Cheeseburger Buns

These are worth the effort! 

These are sometimes called Bierocks or Runzas.  They are normally a sweet roll  filled with beef, cabbage and onions and tend to be on the blander side.They originated from Russia or Germany and are popular in the Midwest U.S.

 I created mine without cabbage and with more spices. I also took the top from another American favourite the Beef on weck. In Western New York they have rolls that have course salt and caraway (kummelweck) on top and they serve them with sliced beef. I have taken the salt and caraway top and created a more tasty filling to create these amazing little buns. Big Pete loved them because well.... he is a boy and they usually love anything with meat and bread.

If you start these in the afternoon you can have them for dinner. You can also bake and freeze them.

You will need:

Dough

• 4 tbsp butter 
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup sugar (I used coconut palm sugar but any kind will work)
• 1 egg
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• caraway seeds for top
• course or kosher salt

Filling

• 1 pound ground beef
• 2 Hot Italian sausages 
• 1/2 onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 cup fresh mushrooms 
• 1-2 tbsp fresh parsley chopped
• 1/2 tbsp green onions chopped
• 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp hot chili flakes
• 1 tbsp your favourite Barbecue seasoning
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup jalapeno Monterey Jack cheese- grated
• 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese- grated

Step 1: melt butter, milk, olive oil and sugar 40 seconds in microwave. Stir and let butter and sugar dissolve. let cool slightly.

Step 2: In a stand mixer or you can do this by hand. Add the slightly cooled milk to mixer bowl. Add yeast and egg, stir and wait 5 minutes to make sure yeast activates. Add both flours and salt and mix until dough forms a ball and pulls all flour away from bowl. This may take a few minutes. If you are doing this by hand knead on counter until you have a nice dough.

Step 3: place dough in a greased bowl and let rise in a warm place 1 hour.

Step 4: while dough rises prepare filling. Start with good beef and some good sausages (if you don't eat pork  leave these out) I always remove the casing and saute the meat until all the water has evaporated and the meat gets a bit of browning. 

Step 5: drain and set aside.

Step 6: in a food processor grind onion and garlic finely. Then separately chop the mushrooms fine.

Step 7: fry the onions in a tiny bit of olive oil and once it starts to brown add mushrooms. You want to let all water evaporate and cook out. This will take a few minutes on medium heat.Add all other seasonings. Taste it and add salt and pepper or some additional hot pepper flakes. Add meat and mix well.

Step 8: chop the green onions and parsley and grate the cheeses. Add to the meat mixture and taste again. If it has flavour and you are happy let cool completely before filling the buns.

Step 9: divide dough into 12 equal pieces. I like to form a log then slice evenly. I then roll out a circle to encase meat filling. Do not roll out too thin. Divide filling and gather two sides and pull and pinch dough to seal edges. Pat and roll dough. You do not want the dough too thin or the meat could break through while baking. This is a nice dough to work with.

Step 10: put buns on a parchment lined baking sheet- do not touch each other. Turn on oven to 375 degrees F and leave buns to rise another 60 minutes. Brush with egg wash and  I put caraway and salt on half and sesame seeds on the other half and the salted ones were so much better. Bake 25 minutes or until slightly browned.

Cool 10 minutes before eating! They are so good. The cheese makes the filling stay together so that you can eat them without the filling falling out. They are also delicious served with a bit of honey Dijon mustard and perhaps your favourite beer! These would be great for a crowd or you can store in the fridge or freezer. To reheat from the fridge I microwaved for 25 seconds and they were perfect.