Saturday, February 03, 2007

Runzas

Runzas are a Nebraska thing: yeast bread filled with ground beef and cabbage. Ah, I remember many happy trips to Runza Huts in Lincoln. My mom makes fantastic runzas at home; my kids devoured them very quickly. For the first time she also added cheese to some of them which worked well -- it glued the normally crumbly filling together. The original recipe was found in the Wayne Herald newspaper but she has adapted it, mostly by increasing the ratio of filling to dough.
Mom's runza recipe
Dough:
4 1/2 to 5 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 packages dry yeast
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup margarine
2 eggs, at room temperature
Filling:
1 1/4 pound hamburger
1 onion, chopped
3 cups cabbage, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 or 5 drops tabasco sauce
Dough: Measure 1 3/4 cups flour into bowl. Stir in sugar, salt and yeast. Heat milk, water and margarine until warm (120 to 130 degrees F). Pour into flour mixture. Add eggs and beat at low speed for 1/2 minute. Beat for 3 minutes at high speed. Stir in rest of flour. Knead 3 minutes until smooth. Cover with towel and let rest 20 minutes (I put in microwave to sit).
Filling: Brown hamburger and onions with salt and pepper. Add tabasco sauce. Wilt cabbage in butter (1-2 minutes in microwave) and add to meat mixture. Let cool.
Assembly: Divide dough into 20 equal portions. Roll each ball very thin -- approximately 6-7 inches in diameter. Place about 3 tablespoons filling in center of each rolled dough piece. Bring edges of dough to center and pinch together to seal. Place, smooth side up, on greased baking sheet. (I find it most efficient to roll, fill, and pinch each one separately and then repeat.) Let rise 40 to 60 minutes, until indentation remains when lightly pressed with finger.
Bake at 350F for 20 minutes or until dough is done.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

looks delicious...i suppose i am going to have to try to make these seeing as i was dreaming about making them last night...i guess i went to bed hungry?
-kymama

Cindy Fey said...

I read this just in time for Valentine's Day. My husband is from Lincoln and he goes on and on about Runza's all the time. I'm going to surprise him on Wednesday by making a batch. Thanks!!!

Cindy Fey said...

I made these last night for my Lincoln born and raised husband and he was so surprised and happy! He calls it "Runza, a meal in a bunza." He ate four, with ketchup, and said I got the dough just right. Thanks again!!