Posts Tagged ‘pizza dough’

Many years ago one of my DH's students who was from Wisconsin gave us his mother's recipe for Bierocks. He told us these were very popular up there and they even served them in his school cafeteria. We tried it and have enjoyed these often. Bierocks are basically a turnover with a filling made from ground beef and cabbage.

Here is the basic recipe:
One batch pizza dough (see previous pizza post)
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cups chopped or shredded cabbage (my daughter, Megan, uses coleslaw mix with good results)
1/4 cup finely chopped or shredded carrot (optional)
salt, peppper, and garlic powder to taste

Cook the ground beef until it is nearly done. Add the onion and cook until transparent and the meat is no longer pink. Drain well. Add the cabbage and carrot, cover and cook until vegetables are wilted and fairly tender. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I often cook the meat and cabbage the day before I want to make the bierocks. This filling must be cool before you put it in the dough. So, plan ahead.

When you want to make the bierocks make the pizza dough and divide it into 8-10 pieces. Roll each piece into a circle with a rolling pin. The circles should be about as large as a dessert plate.

Place some of the filling on one half of the dough and then fold the dough over the filling, stretching if necessary to cover the filling. Seal the edges with a little gizmo like this if you have one, or you can use a fork or just crimp the edges with your fingertips. If you have leftover filling you can freeze it and put it in your next batch of vegetable soup.

Place the bierocks on a greased baking sheet and brush them with a little oil. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 mins. Serve with cheese sauce or catsup. These freeze well if you don't eat them all right away.

Here's a basic cheese sauce recipe:
2 Tbsps. margarine or butter
2 Tbsps. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup cubed or shredded cheese
Melt margarine in a saucepan. Stir in the flour and salt and cook for about one minute. Stir in the milk and cook until mixture comes to a boil, stirring frequently. Add cheese and continue cooking until cheese is melted.

Have you ever heard of bierocks? I hope you will give them a try.

Becka

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My pizza dough recipe has evolved over the years. It seems like every few years I tweak the old recipe a bit and come up with something we like slightly better. I wanted to post my basic pizza dough recipe in this post and give you a couple of ideas for using the dough and then in subsequent posts give a few more ideas.

Pizza dough is very versatile. I found when my children were young that they would eat all manner of things if I served it up on a pizza crust.

Basic Pizza Dough
1 1/3 cups warm water (approximately 120 degrees)
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. yeast
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
3 2/3 cup bread flour
1/3 cup cornmeal (this adds a nice texture to the dough)

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Knead for 3-5 mins. or until the dough is smooth and elastic. (I usually do this in my mixer, but you can do this by hand.) Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 10 mins.

Now you need to decide what you are going to do with this basic dough. To make pizza divide the dough in two and either roll out or stretch the dough to fit your pans which have been greased. I usually use pizza stones, but you can use round pizza pans or jelly roll pans if that is what you have. If you flour your hands and then gently stretch the dough it should easily stretch to fit your pan. The stretching process also creates a rim of thicker dough around the edge.

Crimp the edge of the crust if you would like and then brush on a little olive oil with a pastry brush or your finger tips and then pre-bake the crust at about 425 degrees for 10 mins. These pre-baked crusts can be stored at room temperature for a couple of days or can be wrapped and frozen. It's very handy to have the crusts on hand for a quick meal.

To complete the pizza top it with sauce and your favorite toppings. Here is an easy sauce recipe:
Pizza Sauce
8 oz. canned tomato sauce
6 oz. tomato paste
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning

Combine all ingredients and use to top your pizza. Add cheese and any additional toppings you desire such as ham, mushrooms, cooked ground beef, sausage, pepperoni, olives, onions, etc. Bake at 425 degrees for 10-15 mins. depending on how well browned you like your pizza. Makes enough for two pizzas.

Another option for using your pizza dough is Stromboli. Since I'm just cooking for two most of the time these days I usually make one pizza and one Stromboli.

Here's what you need for Stromboli:
1/2 of the pizza dough
about 1/3 pound of thin sliced deli ham
6-9 slices of Genoa salami
about 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Italian seasoning

Roll out the dough into a rectangle a bit smaller than a laptop computer. Place a layer of ham on the dough.
Top with a layer of cheese. Sprinkle with some Italian seasoning. Place a layer of salami next, followed by another layer of cheese and finally some more Italian seasoning.

Roll this up like a jelly roll and pinch the seam together on the bottom and tuck the ends under to make a tight roll. Brush off the excess flour and place on a jelly roll pan. Make several slashes across the Stromboli to help prevent it from cracking and then brush it with olive oil. Bake at 375 degrees for about 25 mins.

To serve this slice it and serve with heated spaghetti sauce.

This would probably serve about three people as a main dish. For a bigger crowd you could make one large Stromboli using the whole batch of pizza dough (double the filling ingredients) or two smaller ones. The end pieces are not as meaty, but they are good with soup.

How about sharing your pizza dough ideas? I know some of you do some creative things with dough.

Becka

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