Jump to content

  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Kolaches

DragonflyDesserts

By DragonflyDesserts
in Pastry & Baking

 Share

Recommended Posts

DragonflyDesserts

DragonflyDesserts

Posted
Posted

Hi, I am throwing around the idea of serving Kolaches in my Coffee House. They are a regional thing here and I personally have tried one for the first time today. I have a lady who helps me out in the kitchen that has made them all her life and so showed me how to make them today. I wasn't real impressed with the taste of the dough... a little bland, but tastes like similar czeck or polish fare I have had...probably one of those things you grow up on and love. Anyway, does any one have tips on storing them? I was wondering if I could freeze them after filling them with the fruit fillings, and then set them out in the morning to thaw and rise a little and then bake. Her's weren't quite as fluffly doughy as the ones I've seen pictured on the internet. They are big in a town not too far away so I need to travel down there and try one to see how the ones I had today compares with hers. I would just like to have her make them once a week and be able to bake them daily.

Any helpful ideas, tips or great knowledge of Kolaches????

Thanks!

Cheryl Brown

Dragonfly Desserts

Link to comment
Share on other sites
piazzola

piazzola

Posted
Posted

Interesting but in Ukraine and Russia kolach or kalach means braided bread basically the same as Jewish challah. Certainly there are regional differences may be closer to Slovakia it is different for instance buchty are called boluchky in Western Ukraine and they are much taller.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
K8memphis

K8memphis

Posted
Posted

Perhaps add mace to the dough. Not the pepper spray stuff, myristica fragrans, the outside of the nutmeg. Not that you weren't familiar, just for clarity. Jeez, then let me know what day you are baking!! My favorite are the apricot and the poppy seed. Oh seriously drooling here. Sorry, no storage tips, they were never around long enough to need storage :raz:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
*Deborah*

*Deborah*

Posted
Posted (edited)

In Vancouver we have a shop called The Kolachy Shop.

We just say ko-lah-chee.

eG member ktbear is "Kolachy Keith," he would probably be able to help you out re freezing...they are selling frozen kolachys so I suppose it's doable :smile:

Edited by *Deborah* (log)

Agenda-free since 1966.

Foodblog: Power, Convection and Lies

Link to comment
Share on other sites
DragonflyDesserts

DragonflyDesserts

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
In Vancouver we have a shop called The Kolachy Shop.

We just say ko-lah-chee.

eG member ktbear is "Kolachy Keith," he would probably be able to help you out re freezing...they are selling frozen kolachys so I suppose it's doable :smile:

We pronounce it the same here also.

So do I just yell...."KOLACHY KEITH...HELP" :biggrin: Anybody know how to find him??

Cheryl Brown

Dragonfly Desserts

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Wendy DeBord

Wendy DeBord

Posted
Posted

Well however you pronouce them to the best of my knowledge theres two types. One kind is round and it uses yeast in the dough (like this) and ones that are squares with the corner brought into the center and they are more similar to a cream cheese type dough.

I make the second version. For them I roll the dough out, fill them and freeze unbaked. Then bake straight from the freezer, no defrost........they turn out great.

One of the small things that matters alot is your preserves. They have to really have great taste and most important not bleed out when you bake them. I use Hero brand preserves for this and like them, raspberry, strawberry and apricot. For poppyseed I use the filling you can buy, straight from the can..........(that how people here like them).

Oh another thing (I've seen this at bakeries).........they can't hire a person who can roll a dough the same thickness twice, so getting a consistant product is difficult. There are these wooden boards that you can buy that regulate the height/thickness of your dough. It has edges that your rolling pin sits on and the width of your edges determines the thickness of your dough inside the edges. Personally I find these boards a hindrence because it limits the size/quantity you work on each time you roll........so you have to roll out more smaller batches. But if you won't be rolling these out yourself you may need to look into this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
*Deborah*

*Deborah*

Posted
Posted
In Vancouver we have a shop called The Kolachy Shop.

We just say ko-lah-chee.

eG member ktbear is "Kolachy Keith," he would probably be able to help you out re freezing...they are selling frozen kolachys so I suppose it's doable :smile:

We pronounce it the same here also.

So do I just yell...."KOLACHY KEITH...HELP" :biggrin: Anybody know how to find him??

Oh, if you search him up in the eGullet members, username ktbear, then PM him, I imagine he would reply :smile:

Agenda-free since 1966.

Foodblog: Power, Convection and Lies

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Jenikaye

Jenikaye

Posted
Posted

I don't know about storage techniques, but I wanted to add that you can make savory kolaches as well. In Houston, I've had kolaches that had the dough wrapped around a little sausage. I don't know if that is traditional or just something they did there, but they were quite tasty!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ludja

ludja

Posted
Posted (edited)
All the kolaches around here, Texas and LA, are a yeast dough filled with a little sausage and/or cheese. They are delicious. I never knew they could be fruit filled. Which is the original?

-Becca

One of the original versions is a sweet yeast-raised bun from Czechoslovakia. The traditional fillings are fruit, poppyseed and sweetened farmer's cheese (similar to what would be in a danish). In the ones I've seen and made with a friend of Czech descent, the filling is visible on the top of the bun.

Does anyone know if savory kolaches were traditionally made in Czechoslovakia or is it sometihng that just evolved in the US?

I've only heard of the sweet ones from Czech friends and in reading books.

edited to add:

Here's an article from the Austin Chronicle:click It has a bunch of information aobut kolache and their transformation and life in Texas.

Here's a quote:

Prune, poppy seed, and sweetened cheese are the classic fillings brought from Europe, but Alena Reznickova-Jimenez, Czech Republic native and now Texan-by-marriage, finds the dough a bit different here (probably due to wheat varieties and flour-production methods), and she never saw klobasnik (Czech pork sausage) in a kolach until she came to Austin. Is this popular Texas treat a New World innovation or simply a Czech regional variation? Orsak notes that most Czech-Texan families originated in Moravia near the Polish border, and that may explain the difference.

Speaking of innovation, these days it seems that just about anything goes to fill a kolach: The traditional yeast dough is a vehicle for a huge variety of flavors, both sweet and savory. At Austin's oldest emporium, the Kolache Shoppe (7113 Burnet, 458-5542...

Edited by ludja (log)

"Under the dusty almond trees, ... stalls were set up which sold banana liquor, rolls, blood puddings, chopped fried meat, meat pies, sausage, yucca breads, crullers, buns, corn breads, puff pastes, longanizas, tripes, coconut nougats, rum toddies, along with all sorts of trifles, gewgaws, trinkets, and knickknacks, and cockfights and lottery tickets."

-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1962 "Big Mama's Funeral"

Link to comment
Share on other sites
digigirl

digigirl

Posted
Posted

I've seen these both as "kolaches" and "kolachkys" - both pronounced ko-lah-chee (or ko-lah-khee).

I was doing a bit of searching for a recipe on these not too long ago and found tons of them online. Just google a bit. Seems to be originally more of a sweet thing, but has evolved into a savory breakfast thing, at least here in the Houston area.

If you discover the trick of successful freezing, I'd love to hear, so do let us know what you find out!

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body...but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"
Link to comment
Share on other sites
chiantiglace

chiantiglace

Posted
Posted

my eastern european friends helped me with this today. Kolaches (as I pronounced earlier) is the Polish word. While Kolach(singular) Kolachky(plural-Koh-lasch-kee) Is the Slovakian term.

Dean Anthony Anderson

"If all you have to eat is an egg, you had better know how to cook it properly" ~ Herve This

Pastry Chef: One If By Land Two If By Sea

Link to comment
Share on other sites
lesfen

lesfen

Posted
Posted

Mmmmm... kolaches. Around here they're the cream cheese dough, sweet filled variety. Usually with some kind of nut filling, sometimes preserves, and then sprinkled with powdered sugar. You can't escape them at Christmas time and you can't prepare a Christmas cookie tray without them... people will start asking questions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
K8memphis

K8memphis

Posted
Posted
my eastern european friends helped me with this today.  Kolaches (as I pronounced earlier) is the Polish word.  While Kolach(singular) Kolachky(plural-Koh-lasch-kee) Is the Slovakian term.

Y'know what though, I'm Polish and we always said ko-lahch-ky, but in reference to the cookie kind of cream cheese dough cookie ones--not the yeasted ones. So I'm thinking perhaps the types & terms have mutated around the country, around the world, to be pretty much the same kinda sorta, y'know? Maybe the little regional differences are showing up a bit. I mean I've seen danish dough used to make them in some places. They're all good!

Be that as it may, If you are traveling to Austin from like Memphis area or from the Northeast,

THE CZECH BAKERY is on I-35 EXIT 353!!! I got it memorized! :laugh: It's to die for!! Hey I even got a ball cap from there. When chef-boy was in school in Austin, I'd tell him we were gonna come down from Memphis to The Czech Bakery & get a bunch of kolachky's and since he was just a few more miles down the road that we'd probably swing by & see him :rolleyes::laugh:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Jason Perlow

Jason Perlow

Posted
Posted

Is there a fundamental difference between a Kolachy and a Piroshki (alt: pirozhki) ?

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Jason Perlow

Jason Perlow

Posted
Posted

I dont think a Piroshki and a Pierogi are the same thing, though. Piroshki are baked or fried with a pastry crust, and are larger, whereas Pierogies are usually boiled and then perhaps sauteed with onions in butter, and are more like potstickers.

Piroshki are Russian, whereas Pierogi and Kolachy are Polish.

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ludja

ludja

Posted
Posted
I have never heard this term... kolaches before.  I  am wondering though if they are similar to this?

gallery_25849_641_32222.jpg

blueberry filled buns...

yes? no?  :blink:

:smile:

The ones I've seen and made look more like the examples in this photo: click

The sweet filling is placed into a depression in the dough (shaped like a round bun) before baking rather than being completely surrounded by dough.

"Under the dusty almond trees, ... stalls were set up which sold banana liquor, rolls, blood puddings, chopped fried meat, meat pies, sausage, yucca breads, crullers, buns, corn breads, puff pastes, longanizas, tripes, coconut nougats, rum toddies, along with all sorts of trifles, gewgaws, trinkets, and knickknacks, and cockfights and lottery tickets."

-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1962 "Big Mama's Funeral"

Link to comment
Share on other sites
*Deborah*

*Deborah*

Posted
Posted
I dont think a Piroshki and a Pierogi are the same thing, though. Piroshki are baked or fried with a pastry crust, and are larger, whereas Pierogies are usually boiled and then perhaps sauteed with onions in butter, and are more like potstickers.

Piroshki are Russian, whereas Pierogi and Kolachy are Polish.

Sorry, Jason, despite a large Ukrainian genetic component, it's all largely just "stuff in dough" to me.

Agenda-free since 1966.

Foodblog: Power, Convection and Lies

Link to comment
Share on other sites
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...