MAKING KRAUT RECIPES

Steps:

• For the burger filling: Brown the ground chuck in a large skillet over medium heat, crumbling the meat pretty finely as it browns. Add the chopped onions and 1 teaspoon of the pepper. Cook the onion down a little, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the chopped cabbage, sauerkraut, remaining 1 teaspoon pepper and 1 teaspoon salt. Let the mixture cook, 10 to 15 minutes, depending on how done you like the cabbage. Strain and let cool.
• For the dough: Put the yeast and sugar in a 4-cup measuring cup and add warm water to the 1-cup mark. Stir together and let sit until the yeast rises to twice its original size. Put the powdered milk in another 4-cup measuring cup and add water to the 2-cup mark. Stir together. In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, salt and shortening. Cut the shortening into the flour by hand. Next, make a well in the flour and add the eggs, yeast mixture and the powdered milk mixture to the flour. Work it all together until the dough comes away from the bowl (you may need a touch more flour or water). Oil the dough slightly on each side, cover and let rise, for 10 minutes. Pinch and let rise another 15 minutes.
• To assemble the Lauer-Kraut burgers: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 
• Lightly flour a work surface and put the dough on the flour. Begin to roll the dough as close to a rectangle as you can, roughly 24-by-30 inches. Once the dough is rolled out, cut the dough into squares, roughly 6-by-6 inches. Take a square of dough and roll it out a little bigger, roughly 8-by-8 inches. Turn the re-rolled square over and add a full cup of filling mixture into the middle of the dough. Bring the opposite corners of the square together, and then bring the other 2 opposite corners together. You should have all 4 corners drawn together. Pinch down the 4 seams of the dough. Once you pinch all the seams, push down slightly on the kraut burger. This will release extra air and help you find any place you missed sealing the kraut burger. Turn the sealed pocket over and place it on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining ingredients. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

Steps:

• Clean everything. When fermenting anything, it's best to give the good, beneficial bacteria every chance of succeeding by starting off with as clean an environment as possible. Make sure your mason jar and jelly jar are washed and rinsed of all soap residue. You'll be using your hands to massage the salt into the cabbage, so give those a good wash, too.
• Slice the cabbage. Discard the wilted, limp outer leaves of the cabbage. Cut the cabbage into quarters and trim out the core. Slice each quarter down its length, making 8 wedges. Slice each wedge crosswise into very thin ribbons.
• Combine the cabbage and salt. Transfer the cabbage to a big bowl and sprinkle the salt over top. Begin working the salt into the cabbage by massaging and squeezing the cabbage with your hands. At first it might not seem like enough salt, but gradually the cabbage will become watery and limp — more like coleslaw than raw cabbage. This will take 5 to 10 minutes. If you'd like to flavor your sauerkraut with caraway seeds, mix them in now.
• Pack the cabbage into the jar. Grab handfuls of the cabbage and pack them into the canning jar. If you have a canning funnel, this will make the job easier. Every so often, tamp down the cabbage in the jar with your fist. Pour any liquid released by the cabbage while you were massaging it into the jar. Optional: Place one of the larger outer leaves of the cabbage over the surface of the sliced cabbage. This will help keep the cabbage submerged in its liquid.
• Weigh the cabbage down. Once all the cabbage is packed into the mason jar, slip the smaller jelly jar into the mouth of the jar and weigh it down with clean stones or marbles. This will help keep the cabbage weighed down, and eventually, submerged beneath its liquid.
• Cover the jar. Cover the mouth of the mason jar with a cloth and secure it with a rubber band or twine. This allows air to flow in and out of the jar, but prevents dust or insects from getting into the jar.
• Press the cabbage every few hours. Over the next 24 hours, press down on the cabbage every so often with the jelly jar. As the cabbage releases its liquid, it will become more limp and compact and the liquid will rise over the top of the cabbage.
• Add extra liquid, if needed. If after 24 hours, the liquid has not risen above the cabbage, dissolve 1 teaspoon of salt in 1 cup of water and add enough to submerge the cabbage.
• Ferment the cabbage for 3 to 10 days. As it's fermenting, keep the sauerkraut away from direct sunlight and at a cool room temperature — ideally 65°F to 75°F. Check it daily and press it down if the cabbage is floating above the liquid.Because this is a small batch of sauerkraut, it will ferment more quickly than larger batches. Start tasting it after 3 days — when the sauerkraut tastes good to you, remove the weight, screw on the cap, and refrigerate. You can also allow the sauerkraut to continue fermenting for 10 days or even longer. There's no hard-and-fast rule for when the sauerkraut is "done" — go by how it tastes.While it's fermenting, you may see bubbles coming through the cabbage, foam on the top, or white scum. These are all signs of a healthy, happy fermentation process. The scum can be skimmed off the top either during fermentation or before refrigerating. If you see any mold, skim it off immediately and make sure your cabbage is fully submerged; don't eat moldy parts close to the surface, but the rest of the sauerkraut is fine.
• Store sauerkraut for several months. This sauerkraut is a fermented product so it will keep for at least two months and often longer if kept refrigerated. As long as it still tastes and smells good to eat, it will be. If you like, you can transfer the sauerkraut to a smaller container for longer storage.