Kolaches

There are a few issues with this recipe, the main being what was overbaked for the picture. Even the cheap bakeries that cut corners put considerably more filling in their kolaches than what is pictured. The amount of filling listed in the recipe is the same as is commonly listed in other Texas kolache recipes, so I'm not sure why the baker for the photo shoot skimped so much on filling. Y'all need a more representative subject for the picture. If you look at the header on the Czech Stop's website you'll see the correct dough to filling ratio pictured. Second, kolaches are baked touching each other. They're not browned all the way around like the picture for this recipe. They're usually baked on jelly roll pans with everybody in everybody else's space, much like a plane full of Americans in coach. Since they're baked touching, the ones in the middle take longer to bake than the outside ones. If your oven heats from below, put the tray of kolaches on a rack in the middle and put an empty jelly roll pan on the rack below it. That'll block some of the direct heat and allow the outside and middle to cook at a more even place. Alternatively, run two trays of kokaches at once and rotate them halfway through. The shaping in this recipe is done the hard way. You shape the dough into spheres, like you would for rolls. Place them 1-2 inches apart on a lined or buttered pan. I butter the rolls before rising and not after baking. Some do, some don't. Do what you prefer. When they've doubled in size, use a tart tamper to squish an impression in the middle. That gives you space for filling, makes the kolaches the correct shape, and brings them to touching each other. Fill them to the top of the impression. If you're using both preserves and cream, the Czech Shop puts the cream on top of the preserves, but the order doesn't seem to matter in the finished product. Then, put the topping on and bake. I leave the cinnamon out of the topping. I love cinnamon but it tends to overwhelm most non-traditional fruit fillings. It does work with the traditional fillings. Lastly, flour matters. Texas AP is different. It's not the hard wheat stuff you get up North and not the soft wheat low gluten stuff you get in the Southeast. It's somewhere inbetween. If you make this with hard wheat Northern flour you'll get chewy hockey pucks a few hours after baking. 9% Southern flour won't hold the shape and filling as well. If all you have is soft wheat flour, use one that's 10.5-12% gluten. Make them with the right flour and they're delightful. They also freeze well.

• Anonymous

• Dallas, Texas

• 7/2/2023

Just read the review, and I agree - way too much dough, too little filling!

• Wingthorn

• Prague, CZ

• 6/30/2023

Poor excuse for a kolache - too much bread, not enough filling. If this is what the kolaches look like in Texas, remind me to never go there!!!

• Anonymous

• 6/28/2023