I remember when I was little my mom and aunt would make bierrocks about once a month. The kitchen would fill with the smell as they cooked them for a majority of the day. I think I had a couple, but I was so small, that I usually refused. Picky kid. It’s been a long time since I have even thought of bierrocks, but decided to try and find a recipe. The recipe I ended up making is adapted from this one: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Bierocks
According to the great wide web, “Both the bierock and the runza sandwich have German-Russian roots going back to the 18th century. The term ”bierock” comes from the Russian word ”pirogi” or ”pirozhki” and is the name for any food consisting of a filling stuffed into dough. The recipe was passed down from one generation to the next, and was brought to the Midwest of America, and particularly to the states of Kansas and Nebraska, by the Volga Germans. Originally bierocks were served to ranch and field workers for lunch.”
Bierrocks- Makes 6 pockets
Dough:
2 3/4 cup flour (I did half wheat/white)
1 heaping tsp active dry yeast
2 tbs sugar
2/3 water
1/4 “milk” of choice
1 tsp ground flax (or other egg replacer)
2 tbs margarine
Filling:
Salt
1 cup TVP + sufficient enough water to rehyrdate
1 packet taco mix + 2 tbs ketchup
1 tsp soy sauce
1 onion
1 small/medium head of cabbage
Combe flour, yeast and sugar in a bowl. In a seperate dish combine your water, “milk”, and flax or other egg replacer and margarine. Heat in the microwave until margarine is soft. Add to the flour and knead until well mixed. Lightly oil a bowl, or just the dough and cover with a towl. At this point, I warmed my oven and stuck the bread in for about an hour, or until doubled in size. After the hour is up, punch dough down, divide into 6 balls, and place in oven again for thirty minutes.
While you wait for the dough to rise, saute the onion, salt (to taste), cabbage and any other veggies you want to include. In a seperate pot, boil the water, adding soy sauce, taco mix and ketchup along with your tvp. Let your tvp cook thoroughly, then continue to let it heat on low until the vegetables are done.
Once your dough has doubled, preheat your oven to 375 degrees F and roll out each to about 4 or 5 square inches. Spoon mixture onto dough, and fold. When I folded mine (like I was wrapping a gift), the seams were thick. I recommend thinning out the seams so you don’t get a big mouthful of bread with no filling. 
Stick the bierrocks in the oven for thirty minutes or until browned.
These bierrocks aren’t super delicous, but they’re simple, tasty and soooo filling. Next time I would add different veggies and definitely thin down the seams.
*If anyone has any good recipes using TVP, feel free to send them my way. I have a big bag and little recipes to use it up with!
I love soft pretzels. I remember making them for the first time in 7th grade Home Ec class. Soooo good! It wasn’t until high school that I had them again. Working the concession stands at home games really worked in my favor. I’d leave with a pretzel (or two, three..) loaded in a conqueso “soup”. There is no other way to eat pretzels then in a cheesy soup. Yum. For some reason I was thinking about soft pretzels the other day and remembered somebody food porning them and a 
