Miss Ruby Redhead: A Nickal Family Recipe

If you were to ask me to think about a recipe that has been passed down in our family, I would have to think pretty hard because there aren't many, but our family's favorite is probably this one. My family came to America from Germany, through Ellis Island. Out of that heritage, and the need to feed a large family during the depression era, this recipe was born.

Can you tell this thing has been around a while?
I transferred the recipe to a recipe card last weekend.

We all love this recipe but it can be labor intensive, so we only have it once or twice a year. It's so yummy though that I had to share.

Cabbage Bread
Ingredients
1 lg. head cabbage
2 lbs. ground beef
2 lg. onions, chopped
1 lb. carrots

2 boxes hot roll mix -or- 3 loaves of frozen bread dough

First saute the ground beef. Then add the onion and cabbage. Saute until soft, stirring often.

Add the carrots, saute another 10 minutes or so, until soft.

The original recipe did not call for carrots, but they add more flavor and nutrients to the dish.

Here is another place that we deviate with the recipe. I'm sure the original original called for a homemade bread dough. In the recipe that was handed down from my Aunt, she uses 2 boxes of Pillsbury hot roll mix, that still has to be mixed up, left to rise, punched down and then left to rise a few more times until it is ready.

My mom used a ready made frozen bread dough this time around to see how it would come out. It was so much easier and just as delicious! She used 3 loaves. She took it out of the freezer the night before, and let it thaw in the fridge overnight. The next morning she took them out of the fridge and set them in the sun, covered in plastic wrap, so they could rise. You will want to make sure the plastic wrap is pressed right down on the dough or else it will get a crust on it, which we don't want because we are going to split up the dough. The dough will about double in size.

Once we were ready to make the rolls, my mom took each risen loaf and rolled it out to about 3/4" thick. Then cut the dough into 6 equal squares.

In each square she placed about 2 big spoons on filling,

Then bring opposite corners together, and make sure to pinch the seams tight!

The cabbage breads were then placed seam side down on greased cookie sheets. Make sure you leave a bit of room here because they have to rise again.

I sprayed the top of the loaves with cooking spray, then covered with plastic wrap and a towel to allow to rise. Once they were about double in size they were ready for the oven.