Runzas

Ground Meat

Prep time:  
Cook time:  
Total time:  
Serves: 20****(divide ingredients by 5)

Filling ingredients:

  • 2 cups chopped onions
  • 2 garlic cloves, smashed and diced
  • 2 pounds ground beef
  • 1 large head of cabbage, shredded
  • 1 small can saurkraut, with the juice
  • salt and pepper to taste (more than you think!)
  • (optional) cheese of your choice (also more than you think!)

Dough ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter, unsalted
  • 2 scant Tb of dry yeast
  • 4 cups warm water (or warmed milk)
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 2 Tbs salt
  • 4 well-beaten eggs
  • 15-16 cups flour (14 cups unbleached, 2 cups whole wheat)
Instructions
  1. First, make the filling:
  2. Chop onions and garlic and sauté in a large frying pan with a little butter or olive oil until tender. Add ground beef along with generous amounts of salt and pepper. Cook through and drain well.
  3. Put browned ground beef into a large pot (I like to use my crockpot). Stir in cabbage and kraut.
  4. Simmer 3-4 hours, stirring often, and seasoning and tasting. 🙂
  5. (If using a crockpot, cook on “low” for 5 to 6 hours.)
  6. For the dough:
  7. Stir the yeast into the warm water.
  8. Add the butter to the water to soften, too.
  9. In a large bowl, mix together sugar, salt, and eggs.
  10. Stir in yeast mixture.
  11. Add flour one cup at a time, stirring well after each cup.
  12. When the dough becomes too stiff to stir, turn out onto the counter and incorporate remaining flour by kneading.
  13. Knead 100 strokes until the dough is elastic and smooth. Let rest in a covered bowl one hour or until doubled in size.
  14. Cut off golf ball sized pieces to roll out and fill.
  15. Follow instructions below for rolling and filling.
  16. Preheat oven to 375 while letting filled runzas rest for 30 minutes.
  17. Bake for approximately 30 minutes, until approaching golden. Swash with melted butter and bake for 10 more minutes.
  18. Serve while hot. Urge caution! The filling will be very hot! Enjoy!