Texas Style Kolache Recipe Aka Klobasnek Food

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.

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!

TEXAS SAUSAGE KOLACHES (KLOBASNEKS)

Steps:

• Heat milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until it begins to bubble. Remove from heat immediately. Stir sugar, salt, and 1/4 cup butter into the milk and stir until sugar is dissolved. Set aside to cool to room temperature, about 10 minutes.
• Combine warm water and yeast in the large bowl of a stand mixer and stir until dissolved. Stir in cooled milk mixture, eggs, and 2 cups flour. Beat using the dough hook attachment until smooth. Add remaining flour, mixing as you go, just until dough is elastic and slightly stiff, but not dry.
• Turn dough out onto a floured board and knead until smooth and very elastic, 10 to 15 minutes. Coat dough lightly with butter or oil and place in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let sit in a warm place to double in size, about 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, cut sausages in half and pat dry; this is important. Thinly slice Cheddar cheese block from the short end so that each slice of cheese is about the same length as the halved sausages.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly oil a baking sheet.
• Turn risen dough out onto a very lightly floured board. Roll into a log, cut into 5 equal pieces, and cut each piece into quarters to make 20 equal-sized pieces of dough. Use the palm of your hand to flatten and press 1 piece into a circle or oval. Place the circle on the board and add 1 piece of Cheddar cheese topped with 1 dry halved sausage. Roll dough around fillings and very tightly pinch all seams together to seal. Smooth seams down and place kolache on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough and filling to make 20 kolaches.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden, 12 to 15 minutes.

SAUSAGE KOLACHES - KLOBASNICKY

Steps:

• Beat together warm water, sugar, yeast, 1 cup warm milk and 1 3/4 cups flour thoroughly and let stand for 1 hour.
• (I usually make the sponge in a large metal bowl, and let it sit in a barely warm oven for the hour. I preheat my oven to 170, then open the door of it to let some of the heat escape for about 3 to 5 minutes. BE SURE TO TURN YOUR OVEN OFF! I cover the bowl with a clean flour sack towel and pop it in.).
• Add Crisco, 1/4 cup warm milk, salt, egg yolks and 2 1/4 cups flour. Beat well and let rise until double in bulk.
• ( when I put the sponge in the barely warmed oven, I microwave the Crisco. It's really hot, so I let it stand out while the sponge is perculating. If you put the Crisco in when it is too hot, it will kill the yeast. The results are not pretty, lol. I usually use butter flavored Crisco.).
• Then work down (stir it with a wooden spoon. It releases all the "air" trapped in it. The dough will be very soft, and a little sticky.).
• Make the parts for each sausage roll. Cover the sausage and cheese with the dough you have patted out.( I use a silpat, and pat each golf ball size blob down to a rectange about 3 inches by 5 inches and about 1/4 of an inch thick.) Make sure to seal the cheese and sausage up well, and place the seam side down on the sheet pan.
• (It's hard to put an exact measurement on this because some like to use the big sausages, and others the little smokies. I usually use about a golf ball size for the sausages that are about 4 inches long and 1/2 inch in diameter. Any more, and I have way too much breading around the sausage. This dough really grows after the 2nd rise.).
• Beat the egg and water together to make an egg wash. Brush the egg wash over the tops of the kolaches. (This makes them a beautiful golden brown. I usually reserve the 2 egg whites that I separate from the yolks for the dough and it has worked like a charm for me.).
• Let rise 15 minutes. (I've found that 15 minutes is plenty, because the kolaches continue to puff up in the oven. I've left them overnight, and it caused the bread to be too spongy, and they went stale very quickly.).
• Bake at 400 degrees until golden brown, about 15 minutes.
• Some additional notes: I've made these in a bread machine on the dough setting and just dumped everything in for the sponge and the dough. It's a lot less work, but after it is baked, the bread does not have the fine texture the it does when you do all of the steps as listed.
• Also, underestimate the amount of dough you need to wrap around your filling. If the yeast that you have used is fresh, a little dough goes a long way!
• Some fillings that I have tried are apple butter, bacon, egg and cheese, ham and cheese, strawberry jam with cream cheese. Anytime I use jam, I freeze the jam in one of those ice trays that make long tubes of ice for water bottles, and I brush the dough with a little melted butter before I put the "jam cube" on it to prevent sogginess. These are a hit with my children.

KLOBASNEK (SAUSAGE KOLACHES)

Steps:

• Over medium heat, warm the milk and 4 tablespoons of the butter until the milk is just beginning to steam, but is not boiling, and the butter is melted. Remove from the heat.
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the yeast, sugar, salt, and 1 1/2 cups of the flour. Pour in the warm milk mixture and stir until a sticky dough has formed. Cover the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, beat together the oil and egg yolks. Pour the eggs into the flour mixture and blend until fully incorporated. Slowly stir in enough of the remaining 2 to 2 1/2 cups flour until the dough comes together and is soft but not sticky. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, or until it is smooth.
• Place the kneaded dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover. Allow to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
• Grease or line a baking sheet with parchment paper. After the dough has risen, punch it down and divide into 8 even-size pieces. In your hands, roll the pieces of dough into balls and then flatten them into disks 4 inches in diameter. In the center of each piece of dough, place 1/2 tablespoon of the cheddar cheese, 2 slices of jalapeño, and a piece of sausage. Fold one side of the dough over the other and roll, then seal by pinching on all sides. Place on the baking sheet 1 inch apart, seam side down. Cover and allow to rise for 45 more minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 375°F.
• Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter. Brush the tops of the klobasneks with half the melted butter. Bake, uncovered, for 15 to 18 minutes, or until lightly browned. After you remove them from the oven, brush each klobasnek with the remaining melted butter. Serve warm. They are best on the day they are made, but they can be tightly wrapped and then reheated, up to 2 days after baking. They can also be frozen.