Posted by on Nov 30, 2016 | 13 comments

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I’m pretending this comforter is a fresh-out-of-the-oven kolache!  Num, num.

Well, mama say I have to put in the recipe for sweet roll dough, from which the kolaches are made (among other things like dinner rolls, sweet rolls, pigs-in-a-blanket–whatever THOSE are.  How do they get a pig into a blanket anyway.  None of the pigs I’ve none would let themselves be wrapped up easily, especially those greased up ones you find at fairs).  But mama says it’s a versatile dough and tastes good just made into plain old round rolls and that it’s hard to stop eating them.

Here we go:

Sweet Roll Dough for Kolaches (and other things)

1/4 cup warm water

2 packages yeast

1 1/2 cups warm milk

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup melted butter (save a spoonful for the bowl in which the dough will rise)

1 egg plus 2 yolks

1 teaspoon salt

3 generous cups of all-purpose flour and maybe a bit more, depends on your flour

Dissolve the yeast in the water and then mix it with the warm milk, sugar, butter, eggs and salt.  Mix until very smooth.  Add the flour and mix well until you have a lovely buttery dough that does not stick easily to your fingers.  If it sticks after you mix well, add a bit more flour until you can handle the dough easily and knead it for about 5 minutes until it is smooth and satiny.  Brush it with the rest of the butter and let it rise until double, about an hour (often less, depending on how warm it is where it is rising).  You may punch it down and let it rise again, but mama doesn’t.

Form the dough into little balls about the size of a golf ball and put them in muffin tins, or simply put them on a baking sheet.  Brush them with melted butter, cover them with a light cloth and let rise again.  When you are ready to bake, heat the oven to 350 F, press you thumb into each ball to make an indentation, and fill with a spoon of any filling you like.  Bake for about 15-20 minutes until golden.  And then marvel at what you have done.

Fillings:  Pitted prunes mashed up with a bit of lemon peel;  cooked apricots, pureed, poppy seeds mixed with butter and sugar into a thick paste, cottage cheese mixed with a little sugar and lemon peel and pureed or farmer’s cheese, which is what was available in mama’s grandmother’s day.

The Czechs immigrated (note that word, or mama wouldn’t BE here) to Texas in the 1800s, and they settled where there was very good farmland to continue their new life (they were great farmers).  And they maintained their customs, which included kolaches, especially when they all gathered together for a dinner or a church or social event.  Kolaches were served at afternoon coffee gatherings or for breakfast or given to children as a treat.   Mama’s grandmother also made light and lovely strudel, stretching the dough across her large white enamel kitchen table until it was paper thin (the dough, not the table) and then filled it with apples sliced and baked with cinnamon.

Mama gives me some of the cheese filling, which is really good, but a bit rich for my kitty blood.  Still, I like sharing in her heritage, even if I am a Frenchy.

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Ooooh, the smell of kolalches baking.  Heaven!

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Cook’s Country Kolaches