Easy Sourdough Bierocks with Whole Wheat Flour – Same Day Recipe!
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Sourdough Bierocks (or Runzas, as they’re often called in the Midwest) are hearty, homey, and filled with wholesome ingredients. These hand-held pockets are filled with grass-fed beef & green cabbage wrapped up in homemade sourdough. This recipe is fresh-milled flour friendly. Serve these beauties alongside a rich, homemade beer cheese fondue sauce for dipping.
Why You’ll Love These Sourdough Bierocks
This sourdough recipe is so simple and can easily be made the same day you want bierocks for dinner! Mix the dough in just a few minutes in the morning, let it ferment until it rises about 50%, then stick it in the fridge until you’re ready to start assembly.
These hearty bierocks are an all-in-one meal made with wholesome ingredients, including fresh milled whole wheat flour, grassfed beef, and crisp cabbage & onion.
What Is a Bierock?
If you’ve never had a bierock, imagine a cozy, savory pastry—like a cross between a sandwich and a stuffed roll.
Bierocks (also called Runzas) originated in Russia and were made popular by the Volga Germans who settled in Russia as immigrants in the 18th Century. Wives created these to give their husbands a hearty meal that would be easy to eat and carry to work.
German-Russian Mennonites introduced these to the United States when they immigrated in the 1870s. Many of these families settled in Kansas or Nebraska, and Runzas are still a popular meal in that area of the Midwest.
While bierock dough is usually made with yeast, I made this recipe an easy sourdough version.
Celebrating Oktoberfest!
It’s no secret that I love fall. I guess I’m “basic”. 😉 But once the weather starts getting even the slightest bit cooler, I am ALL about the comfort food and fall recipes!
I wanted to create a recipe that would be a nod toward Oktoberfest and my German heritage. This recipe is extra special to me because it’s so wholesome with nourishing ingredients, yet it is indulgent enough that we feel like we are “cheating” when we eat them.
While I didn’t grow up in Kansas or Nebraska, I still love everything about pioneer & farming history throughout the Midwest, and runzas are right up my alley!
Fresh Milled vs. Bagged Flour
If you’ve been around my site much, you know that I love homemade bread, especially sourdough, and especially with home milled flour.
There’s nothing like milling fresh whole grains, knowing you’re incorporating all that extra nutrition into your baking, and the sourdough adds that slight tang that pairs beautifully with the rich beef and cabbage filling.
This recipe was developed with freshly milled hard red wheat. However, the methods and measurements should work just fine with bagged flour, too.
If you do not own a grain mill but want to make your own sourdough whole wheat runzas, use bagged flour and follow the tips below:
- Use active sourdough starter close to peak — do not use discard. While I used discard to make these, fresh milled flour ferments faster than bagged flour, which makes using unfed starter (aka discard) a convenient option. If using bagged flour, discard may not be powerful enough.
- You do not need to do the dough rest after mixing the ingredients if you use bagged flour, but it will not hurt to do one anyway, and can still be beneficial.
Ingredients
To make this whole wheat runza recipe, you need:
Whole Wheat Flour – I use 500 grams (just shy of 4 cups) freshly milled hard red wheat. Hard white would also work well. You want a grain that will maintain its elasticity when rolled out and stretched over the fillings.
Sourdough Starter – I make this recipe with cold, unfed starter from the fridge and it works great. However, I also use fresh milled flour. If using bagged flour, I’d recommend using active starter.
Milk & Water – A mix of milk and water make this dough so soft and flavorful.
Honey
Olive Oil
Egg
Lean Ground Beef or Bison – I prefer grassfed meat for it’s better fatty acid profile, but you can use whatever you have!
Veggies – Diced Onion, Minced Garlic, & Chopped Green Cabbage
Seasonings – Sea salt, chili powder, black pepper, and white pepper. White pepper adds some earthiness to the spice profile, but if you don’t have any, use more black pepper in its place.
Mixing the Sourdough
1. Mix & Rest Dough
Add all sourdough ingredients to the mixing bowl and stir to combine. I like to use my Kitchenaid Mixer to make this simple.
After mixing the ingredients, let the dough rest for 20 to 30 minutes before proceeding.
2. Knead
After the dough rest, switch out your mixing paddle for the dough hook. Knead the dough until it comes together in a smooth, elastic dough. This recipe doesn’t require too much kneading, but the dough should be smooth & supple.
You can knead by hand if you wish!
3. Bulk Ferment
After kneading, transfer the dough to a clear container, cover it, and let it ferment until it has risen about 50%.
In the photo above, you can see my dough before the bulk ferment compared to after.
4. Refrigerate Until Ready to Assemble
After your dough rises about 50% (a little more is okay, too), stick it in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble the bierocks.
That’s one thing I love about this recipe–it’s so flexible! You can make the dough early in the morning and let it ferment for a few hours, then stick it in the fridge until late afternoon.
You can also mix it together the evening before, stick it in the fridge when you go to bed, and if it needs to rise a bit more, pull it out in the morning to sit on the counter for a few hours. You can put it back in the fridge when it’s done rising.
Bierock Filling
5. Brown Beef & Onion
Add the ground beef to a cast iron skillet. Cook, breaking it apart as you go. Once the meat is about 50% cooked, add the diced onion. Cook until the onion is soft and the beef is fully browned. Drain the grease.
6. Add Cabbage & Season
Add your chopped cabbage to the skillet and cook until soft. Sprinkle in your seasonings and stir to evenly distribute. Turn off the heat.
Prepping Dough to Be Filled
When ready to assemble your bierocks, pull the dough out of the refrigerator and follow the steps below:
7. Portion Dough
Divide dough into 12 equal portions. You can weigh the whole batch of dough and divide it by 12 to know how heavy each dough ball should be. For my dough, I aimed for 94-95 grams each.
8. Roll Out One of the Dough Balls
Roll out a ball of dough until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Make sure you roll it wide enough to hold enough filling.
Step 9: Assembling & Baking the Bierocks
Follow the steps below to fully assemble each bierock:
- Use a spoon to scoop 1/12 of the filling onto the middle of the flattened dough. The best way to portion this is to weigh the full amount of filling and divide by 12. For me, this is about 67 grams, but it can differ for you depending on how you measure your cabbage and other ingredients.
- Pinch up corners from the opposite ends and bring them together.
- Repeat with the other corners. If filling is spilling out, you can poke it back in at the gaps.
- (Pictures 4-6 above) Work your way around the whole bierock to fold all of the dough up toward the center to close it.
10. Proof Bierocks
Place each finished bierock seam-side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Let these rest for about 35-40 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375°F during this time.
11. Bake Bierocks
Bake the bierocks for 20-25 minutes or until the bierocks are golden brown.
I recommend serving these with a generous portion of my Creamy Beer Cheese Dip!
Make These Kid Friendly!
Not a fan of cabbage? Replace it with some shredded carrots or zucchini.
Want to get rid of the veggies altogether? Then replace it with cheese! Nothing better than a cheeseburger bierock.
Just cook the meat & onion as instructed above, and when assembling the bierocks, put some shredded cheese on top of the meat & onion mixture before folding them up.
Serving Suggestions
Serve these sourdough bierocks with my beer cheese fondue dip.
These would also be a delicious side for a soup or stew. Try my Chicken Wild Rice Soup, my Barley & Bison Stew, or my Irish Pork Stew.
Related Recipes
Check out some of my other hearty & wholesome recipes!
Sourdough:
- Whole Wheat Pumpkin Spice English Muffins
- Sourdough Garlic Toast
- Sourdough Cheesy Garlic Knots
- 100% Whole Wheat Sourdough
Dinner Recipes:
Enjoy Bierocks with Beer Cheese Dip Tonight!
I hope your family loves this recipe as much as we do. If you make these, please come back and leave a comment and review! I’d love to hear from you!
Whole Wheat Sourdough Bierocks (Runzas)
Equipment
- Mixer optional–can also mix & knead by hand
- 2 large baking sheets
- kitchen scale optional but recommended
Ingredients
Sourdough Bierock Dough
- 500 grams whole wheat flour about 2 tbsp less than 4 cups flour. Fresh milled flour works great!
- 180 grams milk 3/4 cup – whole or 2%
- 120 grams water 1/2 cup
- 200 grams sourdough starter about 2/3 cup
- 2 tbsp honey
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 egg beaten
- 10 grams sea salt
Filling
- 1 lb lean ground beef or bison
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 heaping tbsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp white pepper or more black pepper if you don't have white pepper
- 6 cups green cabbage chopped
For Serving
- Beer Cheese Dip Get Beer Cheese Dip Recipe Here
Instructions
Sourdough Bierock Dough
- Mix all ingredients together. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
- Knead the dough until it comes together in a smooth, supple ball.
- Cover the dough and let it bulk ferment for 3 to 5 hours at room temperature, or until it has risen at least 50%.
- Move the covered dough to the fridge until ready to start making dinner. It will continue to slowly ferment in the fridge a little bit more, but not too much.
Filling
- Brown the meat in a skillet on the stove over medium heat. Add the diced onion when the meat is about halfway done.
- Once cooked, drain any grease and add the chopped cabbage. Stir and cook until cabbage is soft.
- Add the chili powder, salt, black pepper, and white pepper to the beef & cabbage mixture. Stir to evenly distribute the seasonings. Remove from heat.
Assembling the Bierocks
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Divide the dough into 12 equal portions.
- Use a rolling pin to flatten a dough ball until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Add a scoop of the beef/cabbage filling, then pull the edges together and pinch the seams. Set the bierock seam-side down on the baking sheet.
- Continue this process until all 12 bierocks are made. Make sure they are evenly spaced on the baking sheet. Let these rest 30-45 minutes. Preheat the oven during this time.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. After the bierocks finish their rest, bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
- Serve with optional beer cheese fondue dip.
