Kolaches
Call me sheltered, but I've just realized within the past few days that no one outside of Texas seems to know what a kolache is. Do they have kolaches elsewhere in the U.S., perhaps by a different name? Or did our Czech settlers keep them all to themselves?
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19 Comments:
Well -- the Wikipedia description & picture sounds an awful lot like a Danish. So I assume there must be something different about the bread base, or else it would be a Danish.
Can you describe a kolache?
kjgibson at 4:49PM on 01/09/08
Hmm... I hadn't thought about checking Wikipedia. Go me. :)
Well, a danish's pastry tends to be more flaky and with layers. Whereas a kolache is made of soft, doughy pastry. With kolaches, you just lightly knead the dough and form it into little balls before making indentations for the fruit filling. With a danish, you knead and fold and knead and fold for a long time, so that you get those little layers. There also seems to be a LOT of butter in a danish, and not so much in a kolache.
sheeats at 5:15PM on 01/09/08
This brings back memories of being confused as a child. I'm German-Austrian, Polish & Czech.
In Czech/slovak/Ukranian cuisine a Kolace is basically a Danish...usually made with a poppyseed, prune, or fruit filling...sometimes with cream cheese or nuts. It is basically an individual pastry.
In Polish cuisine a Kolachy is a yeast dough coffee cake with the same fillings, though my Grandmother always made poppyseed, prune & cottage cheese filled cakes.
The word roots for all of them are the same, but the recipes & preparation are different. I grew up with both and couldn't distinguish as child between the two pronunciations. And, due to using the same spelling variation for each, there is added confusion if you go to an ethnic bakery.
Krymarczyks is a Ukranian Sausage Shop & Grocer in the northeast neighborhood of Minneapolis. They sell the danish like pastry Kolache & they have a coffee cake that is basically Kolachy.
I made Kolachy (poppyseed cake) for Christmas this year.
Throughout Minnesota's Eastern European settled communities, you will find all kinds of variations on the basic concept. They go by many names & spellings....come as individual pastries and very large cakes....but they are all the same basic recipe...what they have in common in my experience is that they use a sweetened yeast dough and not as much butter or shortening as a Danish or french pastry.
2qrs at 5:18PM on 01/09/08
I've had savory kolaches at different gas stations near austin. I too have mentioned them to other people and they have never heard of them. I like the ones stuffed with a sausage and cheese. The dough is still a little on the sweet side so it is a great combination, especially if they have jalepeno in them.
malenky at 5:24PM on 01/09/08
you guys are making me miss the czech stop soooo bad. and you're not even giving me recipes to make up for it?
every time I drove past, I'd get two sausage and cheese for dinner and two cream cheese for dessert. sooooo good
ansate at 5:37PM on 01/09/08
ansate, I used to hit up the Czech Stop all the time, too! You must be an old I-35 veteran like me... :)
sheeats at 5:46PM on 01/09/08
There is a town in Nebraska called Prague that is roughly 30-40 minutes from where I grew up. The town was settled by Czech immigrants, and if I'm not mistaken the town holds a world record for making the largest kolache. Anyway, the food was well-known enough in eastern Nebraska that we often had kolaches as a dessert item with hot lunch at my elementary school.
Zachary at 8:04PM on 01/09/08
For my family, we always bypassed the Czech Stop and went a few blocks into West, Texas for kolaches from the Village Bakery. I bought three dozen to share with my family this Christmas, and they were gone within days! Savannah, Georgia actually has a shop that makes kolaches, but it's part of a franchise started in Texas. I'm eager to try this recipe that I found in a Texas Highways cookbook that's available through Google books.
jcwest47 at 9:35PM on 01/09/08
The Tassajara Bread Book by Edward Espe Brown has a kolachy recipe and a number of filling recipes- prune, apricot, poopy seed, etc. I've used his recipes for years with such success that everyone at my Ukrainian church assumes I got my recipes from some sainted ancestor.
The book is a good one for other yeasted breads and his writing is straightforward, with clear instructions.
moibec at 10:19PM on 01/09/08
my grandmother used to make cheese and fruit ones. oh they were good.
cybercita at 10:58PM on 01/09/08
In St. Louis, there's a spot called The Kolache Factory, which I believe is a chain. The dough they use is what I'm used to seeing for sweet rolls - which is, or at least was, a synonym for Danish hereabouts. Yeast, non-flaky, varying degrees of sweet. The kolache there are either sweet or savory, some breakfast-ish, some lunch-ish, some dessert-ish. They don't do it for me, not that that matters; I'm sure homemade is a far different beast. (Or fruit tree.)
lemons at 12:03AM on 01/10/08
I'll look for the cookbooks at the library - or copy down the one from google books. Thanks so much!
ansate at 11:47AM on 01/10/08
I've definitely heard of kolaches but I don't think I've ever tried one. I'm from Chicago if that information is of any use.
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 2:15PM on 01/11/08
Sounds like a kolache is more like a cinnamon roll than a danish (or something with puff pastry). Also not fortunate enough to have ever tried one. (I'm from New York, lived in Colorado and now Florida.)
chiff0nade at 3:39PM on 01/11/08
I've read here and elsewhere of all the different varieties, but I'll chime in with my experience as a Texan (raised in Houston, now in Austin):
I've only had and only seen savory kolaches, which have almost invariably consisted of a soft, slightly sweet roll wrapped around a filling of cured meat (ham or sausage) and sometimes cheese. I've almost always seen them in a breakfast capacity, as well.
Not at all flaky, nothing like a cinnamon roll, nothing like a danish.
Interesting how the same word or spin on it varies so widely across the regions.
renzata at 3:48PM on 01/11/08
I, too, hail from Austin but now live in Las Vegas (hopefully not much longer)....and this entire discussion is making me miss Weichels Bakery in La Grange...and the little Chevron gas station on the way to Houston that has all of the homemade Kolaches. I've not seen one place in Vegas...or anywhere in the surrounding states that have kolaches, and I always get looked at like I am an alien when I mention them to locals.
Tasty Morsel at 10:55AM on 01/18/08
@lemons: Yep, The Kolache Factory is a franchise based in Houston. They're not awful, but there's so many other wonderful options here in Texas.
I know what I'm getting on the way to work! One sausage and cheese and one cream cheese to go.
Tellicherry at 7:56AM on 01/23/08
I tried this http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/2007/03/sweet-escape-kolaches.html recipe last night, (sausage only) and it came out pretty darn good. Made 14.
ansate at 10:28AM on 01/27/08
People, people. Stop tormenting yourselves on a quest for kolaches when they clearly are geographically limited, and even those of varying quality. Just saw a feature on Food Network on a primo place called FruhStucks near Houston that not only has a huge local following but they do mail order! You can get them anywhere in the country now. The show left us salivating to try them. Wish we'd known about them during the 5 months we worked in Houston. What a loss that we can now make up for by mail.... http://www.fruhstucks.com/
If anyone else orders them up -- from here or elsewhere -- report back on favorite flavors and quality.
LARosen at 4:23AM on 07/29/09