Bierocks (German Stuffed Rolls)
The flavorful combination of beef and cabbage stuffed in a fluffy roll makes German Bierocks the perfect hand-held food to go along with your Oktoberfest beer.
Oktoberfest in Munich
How we wish we were back in Munich right now.
Saturday marked the start of a huge, two week long celebration of German culture, heritage, and tradition.
Oktoberfest!
Some of you may be thinking, "Wait. I thought Oktoberfest was all about the beer?"
Ok, fine.
People from around the world have gathered in Munich to celebrate these things through one, much more specific thing.
BEER.
Oktoberfest: The World's Largest Fair
This 16-day festival, held each year in Munich, Germany is considered the world's largest fair, bringing over 6 million people to that Bavarian city each year.
To the locals the festival is known as "die Wiesn" after the name of the festival area "Theresienwiese" (literally "meadow of Therese").
The history of this festival goes all the way back to 1810, but we'll go into the rich history later this week.
Of the attendees, almost ¾ are from the surrounding Bavarian region, with the last ¼ being made up of visitors from all over the world.
These visitors consume liters upon millions of liters of Oktoberfest beer, which must meet special purity requirements.
Basically, it's one HUGE festival!
What are German bierocks?
We thought these bierocks would be a great way to kick off the next two weeks, since, what goes better with beer, than a hand-held all-in-one meal?
Bierocks (pronounced bee-ROK) are yeast-raised rolls that are filled with a savory filling.
They originated in Eastern Europe and are very common among German immigrants to the US.
(You can find a similar hand-held meal from Eastern Europe in the Russian piroshki.)
The bread that surrounds the cabbage, beef, and onion filling in these bierocks is dense, eggy, and so delicious that it could be a meal in itself.
But it is also a perfect complement to the savory filling.
It's sturdy enough to stand up to the filling, but soft enough that you'd swear you were eating your favorite, fluffy dinner roll.
Ingredients
There are two components to bierocks: the bread and the filling.
The bread is a basic yeast dough with milk, sugar, butter, and an egg to make it rich, soft, and fluffy.
The filling is pretty straightforward, made of sautéed beef, onions, and cabbage.
How to make bierocks
For what looks like it could be a complicated dish, bierocks are quite simple to make. The most time consuming part is the time it takes for the bread dough to rise, and that's all hands-off time.
We make use of this time to make the filling, which is just a simple sauteed mixture of beef, cabbage, and seasonings.
Once your dough is risen and ready, you simply divide it into eight portions and roll each into a ball. These balls get flattened a bit, so you can add the filling and create a pocket.
The important part is making sure the dough gets pinched tightly closed around the filling before baking.
You don't want any filling to spill out before you take a bite!
How to freeze and reheat bierocks
While fresh these rolls will keep for a week in an airtight container in the refrigerator, we like to make a double batch whenever we make them, because they freeze SO well.
We freeze them after baking and store them in an airtight container or zipper sealed bag. When we are ready to eat them, they just need to be thawed on the counter for a few hours (or in the refrigerator overnight).
Then a quick stint in the microwave is really all you need to get them nice a warm! (But they are even better warmed in an oven or toaster oven at 300F for 10-15 minutes.)
It's so handy to be able to pull a couple frozen rolls out of the freezer and reheat them for a quick meal!
What to serve with bierocks
Typically bierocks are a festival food, designed to be eaten with a beer in your other hand.
That being said, we have been known to pack them for lunch or even enjoy them for a sit-down dinner.
If we desire a side, we tend towards a green vegetable or salad. And you really can't go wrong adding a little more cabbage in the way of German sauerkraut.
Other hand pies
If you love hand-held meals as much as we do, you will want to check out these other dishes from around the world.
- Russian piroshki (very similar to bierocks)
- Egyptian hawawshi (like a hamburger stuffed in a pita)
- Panamanian carimañolas (a meat stew wrapped in a cassava dough)
- Chilean empanadas de pino (beef empanadas with a surprising flavor pop)
- Bolivian empanadas de pollo (fried chicken empanadas)
Bierocks (German Stuffed Rolls)
The flavorful beef and cabbage stuffed in a fluffy roll makes German Bierocks the perfect hand-held food to go along with your Oktoberfest beer.
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 1 c milk, warmed to 80F
- ¼ c white sugar
- 2 ¼ teaspoon active dry yeast (1 package)
- 4 c unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoon salted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 egg, beaten
- ¾ teaspoon salt
For the Filling
- ½ lb ground beef (85-90% lean)
- ½ onion, diced
- 3 c shredded cabbage (about ¼ of a medium head)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Last But Not Least
- 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
For the Dough
- In a large mixing bowl, mix milk and sugar to dissolve the sugar. Sprinkle yeast over the milk mixture and let stand for 5-10 minutes, until the yeast softens and starts to foam.
- Whisk the mixture to combine and whisk in 2 c of flour.
- Add melted butter, egg, and salt. Whisk to incorporate.
- Stir in the remaining flour ¼ c at a time, using only as much as you need to get the dough to come together. Turn the dough onto your counter and knead, for 10-15 min, until a soft, smooth dough forms, adding flour as needed. (Your finished dough should be tacky, but not stick to your hand or your kneading surface.)
- Shape dough into a round; place it in a greased bowl, turning to coat the dough. Cover the dough loosely with plastic wrap or a damp towel and place in a warm, draft-free place to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
For the Filling
- While the dough rises, make your filling. In a large non-stick frying pan, brown meat over medium-high until mostly cooked, 5-7 min.
- Drain as much of the grease from the pan as you can, while not losing the meat from the pan. Return the pan to the heat and add onions. Cook 2-3 min, until they begin to soften.
- Add cabbage and cook 7-10 minutes, until cabbage is tender.
- Remove filling from heat and season with salt and pepper.
Putting it all together
- Knock back the risen dough and turn it onto your work surface.
- Divide dough into 8 balls (roughly 3 oz each). Flatten each ball to a circle 4-5” in diameter. (If the dough springs back, flatten as much as you can, cover, and let the dough rest for 3-5 min before attempting to flatten further.)
- Spoon 2 large tablespoons of filling onto the center of each circle, leaving the edges clear.
- Bring the edges together and pinch them to seal the dough completely. Continue until all the dough and filling has been used.
- Place the shaped bierocks on a greased baking sheet and let rise, covered 30-45 min, until roughly 1.5x their original size.
- During the last 10 minutes of rising time preheat your oven to 375F.
- Brush the bierocks lightly with milk and bake for 20-25 min, until golden brown and hollow sounding when tapped.
- Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.
Notes
These rolls freeze well after baking. To eat, just take them out of the freezer in the morning and they will be thaw by lunchtime. Warm them in the microwave for 1-2 minutes in 30 second increments to heat through.
Want to convert to WEIGHT measurements? Have a look at our ingredient conversion guide.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1 rollAmount Per Serving: Calories: 362
We've updated our pictures since we first shared this recipe on Curious Cuisiniere, but we've left some originals here, in case you've found us in the past and are looking for that old, familiar image.
Sarah founded Curious in 2010 as a way to save her recipe creations and share culinary experiences. Her love for cultural cuisines was instilled early by her French Canadian Grandmother. Her experience in the kitchen and in recipe development comes from over 10 years working in professional kitchens. She has traveled extensively and enjoys bringing the flavors of her travels back to create easy-to-make recipes.
Are these measurements right for the dough? Seems like there should be more milk for the amount of flour used
Hi Mark. Yes, those measurements are correct. Per the instructions, you start your dough with 2 cups of flour and add additional flour 1/4 cup at a time until a tacky dough comes together. We typically need nearly all of the 4 cups when we make these. (Keep in mind the butter and egg also add to the liquid content of the dough.) Enjoy!
you're right - I doubled the recipe and got confused as I was adding ingredients. They turned out great. Thank you 🙂
Thanks for letting us know how they turned out for you! We're so glad you enjoyed them!
Where did you get you recipe? My family has been making something in fact called beirocks for over fifty years. They look and according to you Are made the same! We also used to live in Fresno California. My daughter tried them through a friend and now we are here.
-Sharon shearon
Hi Sharon. A lot of research goes into creating our recipes. We look through many authentic sources and try to curate a recipe that is the best representation of all the variations we find. If this recipe is similar to your family recipe, your family recipe must be a very common one in the German community! Enjoy!
I have been making these for years (I'm not German) but I use Sauerkraut in place of the cabbage, and it add a whole second dimension to these rolls that is so good.
Try it you'll be a total fan!
Sounds tasty! Thanks for sharing! We'll definitely give it a try!
Sarah, I assume you drain the sauerkraut. About how much do you use? My husband won't eat cooked cabbage, but loves sauerkraut
Hi Janice. We've never made these using sauerkraut, although many commenters have mentioned using it. I would definitely drain the sauerkraut and start with about half the sauerkraut as cabbage called for in the recipe. Then I'd taste the filling and adjust the sauerkraut as your taste desires. If you give it a try, definitely stop back by and let us know what you did and how they turned out for you!
Made these yesterday and they were a hit in my family. Even my husband liked these, even though he is not a fan of bread. Thanks for such an easy and fool proof recipe. Definitely going in my family cookbook
Wonderful! We're so glad you all enjoyed them!
Have you tried these as sliders? I ask that because I’m having an Oktoberfest so I will be feeding a crowd and thought that these would be great to make as a bit smaller to double the results?
We haven't tried them as sliders. But that would be a fun idea! If you're looking for smaller bierocks, you could also divide the dough into 12 pieces rather than 8. This would give you bierocks that are closer to a 2 oz roll, which is a standard dinner roll size. Definitely pop back and let us know what you decide to do and how they turn out!
Yes they were a big hit. Very filling and delicious.
Glad you enjoyed them!
Just made! Delicious! Recipe worked perfect!
So glad you enjoyed them!
Delicious! My mother's family calls them "Runza" and my father's side refers to them as "Mau Tosche" ... No matter what you call them, they rock!! 🙂
They sure do! It's so fun how they're known by so many different names. But everyone loves them!
My mother-in-law's mother was a Volga German. They went to Russia with Catherine the Great. Gramma Luft made these buns and called them groutkuga. Not sure of my spelling! She used a 1:1 ground pork to ground beef mix for the filling along with plenty of cabbage, salt and pepper. I used your recipe and used her meat mixture. Thanks for helping me get back to making them. My x-husband, Gramma's grandson, was a vegetarian so I used to make them with ground soy meat substitute. Thanks so much for helping me get back to making them. I am making a big batch for a BBQ which many of my in-laws will attend, including my 89 year old mother-in-law.
Thank you so much for sharing Elanor! We're so glad to help you bring back those memories! Enjoy!
Maultaschen are similar but usually more like a big ravioli than a roll ?
Really wanted to try baking something new today, thanks for the recipe!
Followed the dough recipe strictly. Didn't have any cabbage on hand, so I did ground beef, onion, carrot, garlic, red pepper, zucchini. Great instructions, great results!
Can't wait to try with cabbage (the *real* way)--sounds delicious!
So glad you enjoyed them! Your filling sounds tasty!
When I was a young boy in elementary school, back in the 70’s, these were served for school lunch as “German Hamburgers” and they were a favorite! A friend of mine just sent me this recipe. Can’t wait to try them.
How fun! Thanks for sharing your memories! We hope you enjoy them!
Growing up on Laurel Montana in October we had a festival that lasted all weekend called Herbsfest. Complete with a beer garden, music and dance. It was thrown in the High School and you bought commemorative buttons that were your entrance for the weekend. Crafts, food, oh the food! My Favorite was the ladies who sold Cabbage rolls(bierocks). It was the best festival all around. Sadly 15 years ago they moved it to another location and it fizzled and died. My Grandmother's made these regularly and frozen them for yearly use. After the passing of both beloved Grandmother's I have kept the tradition alive. I am making these today for the winter.
I will have a bag frozen and ready to send for Christmas for my brother's.
I didn't actually have a recipe since growing up making them, this recipe I will pass to my sister in laws. Thank you!
What a fun memory Brooke! We're so glad this recipe will help you keep the tradition alive!
I too love these I had never had them before until about 3 weeks ago I ran across this recipe and fell in love my better half whom mind you hates cabbage loves them so if I can get him to eat a vegetable by making these I am so game. and I don't even mind the few hours of work that goes into them . I have made these 3 times in a 3 week period and I do not have a kitchen aide mixer YET . I bet he buys me one rea l soon though anyway thank you so much Curious Cuisine for this amazing new family recipe that I I'll be making many times in the years to come, I can not wait to try another one of your delicious recipes any one have a suggestion on my next German recipe. Thank you again Sincerely Sondra in Seattle
So glad you enjoy these Sondra! They are one of our favorites!
These are amazing!!! A big hit with my family!! My 89 year old German uncle said they tasted just like his mom use to make.
Wonderful! We're so glad you and your family enjoyed them!
My family makes these and we are very much so not german.... And they call them grunions.... I have no clue why, because a grunion is a small fish... Haha
How fun! Thanks for sharing Lourie!
I fondly remember my aunts and grandmother preparing these little bits of heaven, but as I remember, the dough was thinly rolled and cut into
squares about 3-4 inches. The filling seems the same, and each square had a tablespoon or so of filling, and a second square of dough, pinching the perimeter to form a pouch. which was then deep fried. Our ancestry was Bavarian/White Russian, and we were taught the pronounciation sounded more like beer-rocks, (2 syllables).
I apologize if my memory has gone astray. It seems to do that more and of late. It is to be expected at 75 years. I would definitely like to follow the progress of your cookbook. Thanks, and God Bless. Be well, Yogi
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your memories Yogi! It's so fun how these foods bring back such fond memories, and it is always interesting to learn how different families (and regions) make the dishes their own! Cheers!
I will be making these this Sunday for my parents. Thank you for the cool recipe!
We hope you enjoy them!
Aw, thank you Sarah, you make me feel really welcome and proud to be here.
We're so glad to have you join us!!
When my parents were hosting a 50th anniversary celebration and a family reunion at their house on the same weekend, a friend brought 2 dozen bierocks to help the family get through the days of preparation and the aftermath. The grandkids loved them, and they were the perfect solution for grown ups who were too busy to stop and make lunch for the hungry hoards. The grandkids perfected nuking a bierocks when they were hungry, and bierocks became a tradition when our families were together.
When our son and his wife were expecting their first child, my son made and froze several dozen bierocks and calzone to get them through the first few weeks with a newborn. The second generation of cousins now expect bierocks to be a part of any family celebration. Thanks for sharing.
What a fun family tradition! Thanks for sharing Carol!
Made these and my kids loved them and turned out just like my great grandma use to make.
Thanks Valerie! We're so glad to hear your family loved them! Isn't it great when we can share a bit of our own history with our kids?
From the fridge, how do you suggest reheating these?
Hi Kristina. We simple put ours in the microwave for 2-3 spurts of 15-20 seconds, letting them rest for a minute in between the sets to let the temperature even out. Enjoy!