A “bierock” is a yeast dough pastry with a savory filling. The dish has been popular with German immigrants in Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma. The origin of the name “bierock” is uncertain; it possibly is related to the Turkish food of “börek.”
 
“The lesson was given on bierocks” was printed in the Great Bend (KS) Daily Tribune on November 1, 1957, A recipe for bierocks was printed in the Northwest Arkansas Times (Fayetteville, AR) on April 17, 1964.
 
   
Wikipedia: Bierock
Bierock (pronounced somewhere between “brock” and “brook” in Nebraska and “beer-rock” in the Dakotas, the Rocky Mountain states, Kansas, and Oklahoma) is a yeast dough pastry pocket sandwich with savory filling, originating in Eastern Europe, possibly in Russia. The dish is common among the Volga German community in the United States and Argentina. It was brought to the United States in the 1870s by German Russian Mennonite immigrants. Other spellings are bieroch, beerock, berrock, bierox, beerrock and kraut bierock in the U.S, and pirok or kraut pirok in Argentina.
 
Bierock is filled with cooked and seasoned ground beef, shredded cabbage and onions, then oven baked until the dough is golden brown. Some variants include grated carrots.
       
Roadfood 
Bierock
The bierock is a gift of Volga Germans, a group of immigrants who originally fled Germany for Russia, but then came here from Russia to escape communism. They brought with them recipes for a baked yeast-dough bread pocket filled with beef, cabbage or sauerkraut, and onions. These portable meals, which are similar to the Upper Midwest’s pasties, were a favorite lunch among farm workers; and today they are served at Church suppers and fund-raisers throughout Nebraska and Kansas.
 
1 November 1957, Great Bend (KS) Daily Tribune, “So And Sew Club Holds Regular October Meet,” pg. 3, col. 4:
The lesson was given on bierocks.
 
17 April 1964, Northwest Arkansas Times (Fayetteville, AR), pg. 51, col. 2:
BIEROCKS
PRONOUNCED BEER-OCKS
Mrs. Orvill Knapp
P. O. Box 106,
Greenland, Ark.
Use 1 recipe of hot roll mix. Roll out 1/4 inch thick, and cut into 5 or 6 inch squares. Place 3 tbsps. filling on each square, bring up corners and pinch edges shut. Turn bottom side up, and bake in pan at 450 degrees.
 
Filling
1 lb. hamburger
1 small head cabbage
1 small onion
1 tbls. Worchestshire Sauce
Place hamburger in skillet. Brown slowly. Season with salt and pepper. In another skillet, put the cabbage and onion which have been chopped fine. Add sauce, but use no additional water, and cook until well done. When meal is cooked, add to other mixture and mix well. Drain off any excess fat or liquid, and proceed to place in dough squares. Note: This is an old German dish and is sold at Fairs, as we sell Hot Dogs. But are also used as a main dish, served with a sour salad. These are estimated amounts as the recipe was never written down, just passed on by showing.
   
30 December 1965, Great Bend (KS) Daily Tribune, pg. 5, col 1 photo caption:
BIEROCKS AND COFFEE make a perfect cold weather meal or snack. Mrs. George T. Hester of Galatia bakes several bierocks at a time, and freezes them. When she needs to serve a hot meal in a hurry, she reheats them.
 
21 April 1967, The Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, OK), “International Dishes Tasty” by Nora Belle Oringdorff, pg. 9, col. 1:
KRAUT BIEROCK
1 lb. hamburger
1 med. head of cabbage, shredded
1 1/2 to 2 t. of salt (to taste)
1/4 t. pepper
Brown hamburger and add seasoning, then cabbage and onions and simmer until tender. Set aside to cool, then drain of excess juice. Use refrigerator roll recipe (see below) or just roll recipe.
 
Roll dough one-fourth of an inch thick and cut into four-inch squares. Put 2 T. meat mixture into center of square and bring four corners together and pinch.
 
Grease liberally with salad oil and place on greased jelly roll pan. Let rise about one half hour. Then bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees F.
 
12 May 1968, The Brazosport Facts (Freeport, TX), pg. 25, col. 1:
BIEROCKS
(Joy A, Andrews)
(Freeport)
This recipe comes from Germany.
2 lbs. ground beef
1 medium onion
1 large head cabbage, shredded
Salt and pepper to taste
1 recipe bread dough (or roll flat biscuits from 2 cans of canned biscuits). Combine first three ingredients, add water to cover. Cook until tender and season with salt and pepper.
 
Roll out dough 1/2 inch thick and cut into 8 inch squares. Place some of cabbage mixture in each square. Fold over and pinch edges together.
 
Bake on greased cookie sheet for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
 
Chicago (IL) Tribune
Building a better bierock
By David Hammond
Special to Tribune Newspapers
SEPTEMBER 28, 2014, 12;21 PM
(...)
Turns out “runza” is actually the name of a regional franchise that offers the eponymous bread pockets filled with meat, much like Italian stromboli. Traditionally, this stuffed bun was called a bierock. This simple food was on my plate because Russia’s most famous empress incentivized German immigrants in 1763 to settle portions of her empire. In the 1870s, Alexander II announced that Russian-Germans would have to pay taxes and serve in the military, so they moved to Nebraska and environs, taking with them recipes for bierock.