Kolache Making with Grandma

 

Every year I ask my grandmother to teach me to make Kolaches and every year she says, “Sure, we can do that.”  2011 almost squeaked by without her teaching me, but on New Year’s Eve this year she finally shared her wisdom! Kolaches are a traditional Czech roll that my grandmother makes every year.  They traditionally are a sweet roll with a filling.  My grandmother makes them with cream cheese or prune filling.

I am a fan of the cream cheese filling. Prunes really do nothing for me, to the point that I will actually eat the whole roll, all but the section with filling.

Who really even likes prunes?

Ok- I did ask this question while making Kolaches and was met with a 50/50 split in my family.  Pshhh…. cream cheese is still the best!

Oh and also, eat one of these fresh out of the oven. Your life will never be the same again!

To start off, we made the dough for the rolls. You will find the recipe below with directions on how to make the dough either in your bread maker or by hand.  The directions differ slightly due to the order in which you put ingredients into a bread maker. My grandmother said that her bread maker has really reduced the time the Kolaches take, and she wouldn’t do it any other way anymore.  This was actually pretty nifty. Dump everything into the bread maker pan, turn it on and 1 1/2 hours later you have dough ready for making Kolaches.

We removed the dough from the bread maker pan and placed it on a lightly floured cutting board. I would recommend a cutting board so you can cut the dough without having to worry about your counter.  Next, we pressed the dough out into a large rectangle.

We cut the dough into 18 pieces by dividing the dough several times.  You can either use a kitchen knife or a serrated knife.  We used a knife. If each piece is not even, make sure to take from other pieces to make them all equal.

The filling was the easiest filling I have ever made. Grab a block of cream cheese and cut it into 18 pieces. Ta-da!  We used two blocks because several people in my family had requested twice the filling.  Double the cream cheese…. yumm!

Taking each piece of dough we pressed them out into 3-4 inch squares, then placed a chunk of cream cheese in the center of each dough square.  Check out those massive chunks of cheese!

The folding is the most complicated part of this recipe.  Start by pinching opposite corners together.

Next, pull a remianing corner and tuck it behind the cream cheese.  Making a dough packet that looks similar to a envelope.

Last, we pulled the final corner over the pinched together corners and then 3/4 of the way around the roll, pinching the seam to seal.

After we rolled up each kolache, we placed them seam side down in buttered glass baking pans.  The glass pans keep the rolls from browning on the bottom.

Then we placed them in a oven (that had been preheated to 200 degrees and then shut off) for 30 minutes. This helped the kolaches rise to the perfect size.  Finally we baked these delicious rolls for 25-30 minutes in a 325 degree oven.  Once baked, we removed them from the oven and placed them back on the cutting board to cool, but not before brushing them with butter and sprinkling them with sugar!

At this moment I put down the camera and snatched a pipping hot roll!  Family heritage is so delicious 🙂

 

 

Kolaches

yields 18 rolls

from the kitchen of  Marion Skidmore

  • 1 1/8 cups water
  • 1 1/2  tablespoon butter (cut into small pieces)
  • 3 1/4 cups bread flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons powdered milk
  • 1 tablespoon yeast , room temperature
  • 8 oz cream cheese, cold
  • Butter and sugar for topping

Dough in Bread Maker

  1. In a glass measuring cup, heat water in the microwave for one minute, this will help melt the butter.
  2. Add water then butter pieces to bottom of bread maker pan.
  3. Add flour to bread maker pan to seal water into the bottom.
  4. Add sugar, salt, powdered milk and yeast on top of flour.
  5. Turn bread maker on to dough setting and let run. This will knead the bread and let rise.
  6. Remove dough from bread maker. See making kolache directions below.

Dough by hand

  1. In a glass measuring cup, heat up the water in a microwave for one minute. Add butter and water into a large mixing bowl; this will help melt the butter.  Sprinkle yeast over water so it sits on the top of the water and beings to foam. Set aside for 5 minutes.
  2. Add flour to water and butter mixture.
  3. Add sugar, salt and powdered milk on top of flour.
  4. Stir together all ingredients.  Mix for 4-5 minutes to fully incorporate all ingredients. A ball will form in the bowl.
  5. Place dough into a fresh lightly greased mixing bowl and cover lightly with a clean kitchen towel.
  6. Place in a warm area to rise.  Let rise for 20-30 minutes to until dough has doubled in size.
  7. Remove dough from bowl onto a lightly floured surface.  Knead dough for 5-8 minutes.
  8. See making rolls directions below.

Making Kolaches

  1. On lightly floured surface roll out dough into a rectangle.
  2. Divide dough into 18 even pieces. I like to use kitchen twine to be more even, but a serrated knife could be used too.
  3. Divide cream cheese into 18 even pieces using a knife (if more cream cheese is desired 16 oz of cream cheese can be used for 18 rolls).
  4. Flatten each piece of bread dough into 3 1/2”x3 1/2” squares.
  5. Place a cream cheese piece in the center of each dough square.
  6. To fold dough around the cream cheese, begin by fold together opposite corners of the dough and pinch together.
  7. Then fold a remaining corner over pinch together corners and tuck corner behind cream cheese. This will look like a small envelope.
  8. Take the last corner and wrap it almost all the way around the kolache and pinch to seal roll closed.
  9. Place kolaches in 2- 9×13 greased or buttered glass baking pans. Glass will keep the bottoms from browning.
  10. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Turn oven off, and place kolaches in oven to rise for 30 minutes.
  11. Remove pans from oven and preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  12. Bake kolaches for 25-30 minutes, until very lightly golden brown on top
  13. Remove kolaches from pan onto cutting board or rack to cool. Immediately after removing from the oven brush each kolache with butter and sprinkle tops lightly with sugar.
  14. Serve warm or cooled. Store in air tight container.

Posted

in

by

Tags:

Comments

6 responses to “Kolache Making with Grandma”

  1. Nga Avatar

    Got to try this!!!! The girls will love this.

  2. Sanidhya Avatar

    Love Kolaches, I have a rpceie I’ve been dying to try!! Poppy seed is my absolute favorite and I love how you pinched these up, the kind I generally see, the tops are open so you can see which kind it is.

  3. Jill R Kegler Avatar
    Jill R Kegler

    Finally after looking for 3 hours + I found the kolache like my Grandma used to make!!! I just really wish you would have said something about making them with Prunes? You didn’t use a cheese mixture so do you use just prunes or a mixture and how would you fold that in ? Please help me as I am trying to make this for my Mom who is 86 and wants them Like my Grandma used to make them. Which look just like these. .

    1. Rachel Avatar

      I am so happy you found this recipe then!

      I called my grandma and this is what she told me. For each individual kolache she uses one prune. Place prunes in a pan and cover with water. Cook on low heat for about 15 minutes. When soft, (usually this will have absorbed the water) put in a bowl and add a little sugar and little cinnamon. Mix up. When cooled off use as filling.

      Happy Kolache making!

  4. Jill R Kegler Avatar
    Jill R Kegler

    Hi Rachel, Thank You So Much! That definitely sounds like the ones my Grandma made ! And please Thank Your Grandma! My Mom said she was never able to get the folding right so she stopped trying to make them. But she really misses the taste . I have never liked Prunes so really didn’t pay much attention to making them. But decided I would try for my mom only she can’t find the recipe. After spending a few hours looking I just got more frustrated than anything. So thank you again for your help. And I will let you know how they go.

    1. Rachel Avatar

      This story makes me so happy!! I would love to see your results. I wish you lots of luck!

      If you are willing to share, please email them to me when you are done. Rachel@myurbanoven.com