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Runza's

A spinoff of the Nebraskan Runza restaurant sandwhich you can make at home. These are the perfect handheld meal for harvest and they freeze well. I like to double this recipe.
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Servings: 6
Course: Main Course
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

Dough
  • 4.5 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 packets yeast
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 2 eggs
Filling
  • 1.5 lbs ground beef
  • 1 small onion
  • 1/2 head small cabbage
  • 1 1/2 carrots
  • 1/2 lb sharp cheddar cheese block

Method
 

Starting the Dough
  1. Mix the dry ingredients 1.5 cups of flour, sugar, salt and 2 packets of yeast in a bowl (I like to use my stand mixer)
  2. Mix the wet ingredients seperately in a small pot on the stovetop. Add the milk, butter and water. Make sure this mixture is all melted and at a temperature of 120-130 degrees farhenheit before you add it to the dry ingredients. Usually I get the mixture too hot and have to let it cool down.
  3. Add the wet ingredients slowly to the dry ingrients. Using a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment works great for this.
  4. Mix up the two eggs in a small bowl and add them to the rest of the dough mixture. Mix until fully incorporated.
  5. Then add the remaining 3 cups of flour. Add one cup at a time until fully incorporated into the mixture.
  6. The dough should be a little sticky. Add a little flour to hand knead a few times and place in a covered bowl to rise for 1 hour.
Filling Preparation
  1. Chop the onion and cabbage. Shred the carrots
  2. Brown the hamburger and onion in a pan. Add in some seasoning. I use a combination of steak seasoning, garlic powder, pepper, and oregano. Season to your liking.
  3. Add in the carrots and cabbage. Steam and cook down for several minutes.
  4. Prep the cheese by slicing it into sandwich like slices
Assembling the Runzas
  1. After the dough has risen, punch it down and take out about a wiffle ball size dough portion
  2. Roll out the dough to approximately 6" x 8"
  3. Lay out the cheddar cheese across the middle of the dough, leaving room to wrap the edges. Add the meat and cabbage mixture on top of the cheese.
  4. Fold up the long edges first and then tuck in the ends of the dough to seal.
  5. Flip the runza over and bake seal down for 15-17 minutes in a 350 degree F oven.
  6. Enjoy the runzas out of the oven or freeze them.
  7. TO FREEZE: Allow the runzas to cool completely, then place in freezer bags, labeling them and storing away for future use.
  8. REHEATING: They can be reheated from Frozen. Cover each individual Runza in tin foil. Bake in a 325 degree Farhenheit oven for 30-40 min