Houstonhamandcheesekolaches Recipes

KOLACHES

Steps:

• Mix yeast and flour together in a large mixing bowl
• Add remaining sponge ingredients and whisk until combined
• Cover and refrigerate overnight
• Remove the sponge from refrigerator and gently stir, adding the salt
• Add flour until it forms a dough
• NOTE: you may not need all 3 cups of flour, depending on the humidity where you live
• Once the dough forms a ball, let it rest for 20 minutes
• Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for about 10 minutes
• Lightly oil a bowl and place the dough inside, making sure to coat the dough with oil
• Cover and let rest for about an hour or until doubled in size
• Cook breakfast sausage and crumble into bite-sized pieces
• Chop or tear ham into small pieces
• Shred cheddar cheese
• When dough is ready, gently punch down by using a closed fist to slowly push the extra air out
• Divide the dough into 32 pieces
• Flatten the pieces into circles about 3 inches in diameter
• Add a bit of the filling (either ham and cheese or sausage and cheese) to the dough
• Fold the sides up to close and pinch together to seal
• Place seam-side down on a greased cookie sheet or baking stone
• Continue until all dough has been used
• Preheat the oven to 375F while the kolaches rest
• Brush kolaches with melted butter
• Bake for about 12-15 minutes until they start to turn golden
• Don't let them get brown or the dough will start to dry out

TEXAS STYLE KOLACHE RECIPE - AKA KLOBASNEK

Steps:

• Mix together the flour and boiling water until it turns into a wet dough. Place the overnight dough on a sheet of plastic wrap and close it, twisting into a ball. Refrigerate overnight.
• Heat the water until it reaches 110-115°F (don't chance this - test it with a food thermometer to be sure) and pour the yeast over the top. Let it sit for 5 minutes, or until it looks frothy.
• In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, milk powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center, add the yeast mixture and stir to combine. Add the egg, stir, then the overnight dough and make sure all ingredients are fully incorporated. Stir in the melted butter until it forms a soft, shaggy dough. The dough should start to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
• On a generously floured work surface, turn out the dough and knead for 10 minutes. The dough should be smooth and elastic, not sticky or wet. Place in a clean bowl covered with a kitchen towel and let rise for 1 hour.
• Roll the dough out into a 16″ x 12″ rectangle. Cut the dough into 12 equal rectangles. Fold each slice of cheese into thirds and stack on top of each piece of dough, then place the halved hot dogs on top. Roll up each kolache, pulling and tucking or pinching the edges to make sure there are no holes.
• Place each of them on a sheet pan lined with parchment or a silpat silicone baking mat at least 2″ apart with the seam side down. Cover with a clean kitchen towel or loose plastic wrap and let rise for at least an hour.
• *If making this the night before to bake the next morning, prepare recipe as stated including final rise, then chill loosely covered 12-18 hours. Allow time for the kolaches to come up to room temp before baking in the morning.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake 17-20 minutes, or until golden. Enjoy warm.

HAM AND CHEESE KOLACHE

Steps:

• Ham and Cheese Filling: In a bowl, combine 1 cup diced ham, 1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese, 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, and 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard.
• Stir to blend well.
• Refrigerate until ready to use.
• For Egg Glaze: In a small bowl, combine 1 egg white and 1 tablespoon water.
• Beat lightly to blend.
• For kolaches:In a large bowl, combine 1 cup flour, cheese, sugar, undissolved yeast, and salt.
• Heat water and butter until very warm (120º to 130ºF).
• Gradually add to flour mixture.
• Beat 2 minutes at medium speed of electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally.
• Add egg and 1 cup flour; beat 2 minutes at high speed.
• Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough.
• Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes.
• Cover; let rest 10 minutes.
• Divide dough into 16 equal pieces; shape each into a ball.
• Cover; let rest 15 minutes.
• Place balls on greased baking sheets 2 inches apart.
• Make a deep and wide indentation on each ball by pushing outward toward edge, leaving 1/2-inch ridge around outside.
• Fill with Ham and Cheese filling.
• Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
• Brush surface of dough with Egg Glaze.
• Bake at 375ºF for 15 minutes or until done.
• Remove from sheets; serve warm.
• Refrigerate leftovers.
• BAKING TIP:When you use two baking sheets or pans in the same oven, be sure to stagger them.
• Heat rises and stacking one pan directly above another causes the bottom pan to bake faster than the top.
• Bakers should also rotate the sheets (top to bottom and bottom to top) and turn the sheets 180 degrees (back to front) halfway through baking.

TEXAS KOLACHES

Steps:

• Add the butter to a small saucepan over medium heat to melt. Do not allow to brown. As soon as the butter has melted, add the milk and stir until blended. Set aside.
• Add the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low until combined.
• Switch out the paddle attachment for the dough hook and add the milk/butter mixture, as well as the egg and the egg yolk. Mix on low for about 1 minute, then, increase the speed to medium (#6 on Kitchenaid stand mixer) and knead for 8 minutes.
• In the meantime, add about 3 cups of water to a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Then, grease a large bowl. You'll also need to arrange your oven racks so that you can fit the saucepan on the floor of the oven with a rack situated above it. Your large bowl will go on top of the rack. The bowl does not need to be oven-safe.
• Once the dough has finished kneading (it will soft and somewhat sticky), use floured hands to form it into a ball and transfer it the greased bowl. Place the saucepan of boiling water on the oven floor and the bowl on the rack above it. Close the oven door and allow the dough to proof for 1 - 1 1/2 hour, until it has doubled in size.
• Remove the bowl from the oven (leave the saucepan in) and punch down the dough. On a floured work surface, divide it into 4 equal pieces, and then divide each of those pieces into quarters. You should have 16 pieces of dough.
• Roll the dough into balls and transfer to 2 baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing them about 2 to 3 inches apart. Close the oven door and allow to proof for 90 minutes.
• Remove both pans and the saucepan from the oven and preheat it to 350°F.
• Wrap each dough ball around a piece of sausage until it is fully enclosed and pinch to seal any seams.
• Place a piece of cheese in the center of a slice of ham and fold over/wrap the ham to enclose the cheese.
• Wrap each dough ball around the ham until it is fully enclosed and pinch to seal any seams.
• Place seam-side down on the baking sheet and bake for 22-25 minutes, until golden in color. Allow to cool slightly, serve, and enjoy!

OLD-FASHIONED KOLACHES

Steps:

• Scald milk. Add sugar and butter and stir to dissolve. Allow it to cool to warm, then add the yeast and let it begin to work. Add eggs.
• Put milk mix in a large mixing bowl. Measure the flour and salt into another bowl.
• With a mixer slowly work the flour mix into the dough bowl. When the dough becomes too thick for the mixer to handle, start working in the flour by hand.
• When dough starts to come together and leave the sides of the bowl, it's just right.
• Form the dough into a ball and cover. Let rise in warm place until double its size.
• Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and knead gently until it comes together and is soft and elastic.
• Divide dough into egg-size pieces. Flatten and form into square or round. Make a depression in the center with your floured thumb.
• Fill the depression with 1 rounded teaspoon of filling. Let the filled kolaches rise about 20 minutes. Brush tops with beaten egg mixed with a little milk and sugar.
• Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned.
• Sprinkle you fresh out-of-the-oven kolaches with powdered sugar before serving.
• FILINGS:
• Apricot: Place 1 lb dried apricots in a pan with cool water. Let soak several hours. Bring to slow simmer and add sugar to taste. Cook until very soft. Stir to get a smooth consistency.
• Prune: Made the same way as the apricot filling.
• Pineapple: Simmer well drained canned, crushed pineapple until it thickens.
• Poppy seed: 1/2 lb ground poppy seeds, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp vanilla. Add enough milk to make a thick mis. Let stand overnight to absorb the liquid.
• Cream cheese: 8 oz cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp lemon juice, 3/4 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp sour cream. Mix together until smooth.
• Sausage: Take a small piece of sausage and wrap dough around the piece and bake.
• You can use just about any fruit filling in the kolaches, just don't use jam or jelly. They liquefy with the heat in the oven.

HAM AND CHEESE KOLACHE POCKETS

Steps:

• Prepare 1 batch of Sylvia's Kolache Dough (#238688) per directions through step 9. (Note that I use my countertop mixer with the dough hook rather than mixing by hand and usually need about 6 1/2 cups of flour vs. the 6 that Sylvia calls for).
• Divide the dough into 12 equal parts.
• Roll into round balls and then one at a time:.
• Roll out each dough ball into an oval about 8" x 6".
• Layer 3 slices of deli ham and 1/3 cup of shredded cheddar in the middle of the oval.
• Bring the long ends up and together on top of the cheese (make sure to wrap it up!). Pinch the dough together to seal.
• Bring the short ends up and together on top of the 1st layer of dough. Pinch the dough together to seal.
• With your hands, roll each dough pocket around to smooth the seams and shape into a 4"x3" pocket (about 1 1/2 inches thick).
• Arrange on a greased baking tray.
• Brush the tops with melted butter.
• Bake 20-25 minutes at 400 degrees until done.
• Eat hot (very!) or allow to cool completely and store in the fridge. (Note: Let the pockets cool before putting them in bags - otherwise the moisture will condense in the plastic bag and make the dough a bit soggy).