Czech Sweet Kolaches!

Alright, friends, it's time to satisfy your sweet tooth!  If you love pastry, you can't miss with this recipe!  Czech sweet kolaches are fruit filled pastries that are sure to please anyone!  These pastries are easy to make crowd-pleasers, that will leave people wanting more.......................

Here's how to do it.

Hungry yet?  Then, let's begin!

The best part about this recipe, is that you can make the dough the day before, and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight.  This is a beautiful dough that can be used for both savory, and sweet kolaches.

Dough: 

4 teaspoons instant yeast (20 gm)
1 1/2 cups warm milk (2.5 dl)
1/3 cup sugar (70 gm)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (115 gm)
5 cups of flour (775 gm) plus extra for dusting

Posypka or Drobenka (Sugar Crumbs):

1/2 cup (105 gm) sugar
1/4 cup (25 gm) flour
2 Tablespoons (30 gm)unsalted butter, melted 

Fillings:

Pie or pastry fillings of your choice!  You can find these in the baking aisle of your local grocery store.  I chose to use cherry pie filling, raspberry, apricot, and prune pastry fillings.  Amounts will vary.

Begin by making the dough.  This process takes approximately 15 minutes.  Ten of those minutes will be used by your mixer, as it kneads the dough for you.

Step 1. Warm the milk. Don't heat it all the way through, 110 degrees F is perfect. Throw it in the bowl of your stand mixer, along with the yeast and the sugar. Mix it up, and let it sit for about 5 minutes, until the yeast grows up. 

Now we can mix up our dough. Place the mixing bowl into your mixer, and affix the paddle attachment. Add the eggs, butter, salt and flour. Blend with the paddle until everything is incorporated. Now let's change to the dough hook. Once the dough hook is on, let the machine do your work for you. I set my mixer at #3, and let it go for 8-10 minutes. After 8-10 minutes, the dough should have pulled away from the sides of the bowl, and should spring back when touched.

 Now we have two options: 
#1- let this dough rise for 1-2 hours at room temperature, then use immediately. 
#2.  Cover the bowl of dough tightly and refrigerate overnight.

Before you are about to roll out your dough, mix together the ingredients for your sugar crumbs.  They should turn into very coarse looking sand.  Set this aside.

 When you are ready to use your dough, lightly flour your work surface, and dump the dough out onto it.  Roll it out to about 1/2 inch thick (1 cm for my beloved metric users in the matrix). 
Use 2-3 inch round cookie cutters to cut out your disks.

Cut out as many disks as you can, re-rolling your scraps as you go.

Place your disks on a cookie sheet lined with a Silpat or parchment paper.  Cover with a tea towel, and leave them in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes to one hour.  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees (190 Celsius).

When they are done rising, it's time to make our indentations to hold our fillings!  I used a shot glass, but you can also use a spoon, or even your fingers.  The idea is to make a place that is big enough to hold about a teaspoonful of your filling.

Next, let's crack an egg into a small bowl with a bit of water in it to make an egg wash.  Mix this up furiously, until very well combined.  Brush this egg wash onto your indented disks.

Now it's time to fill!  Use about 1 teaspoonful of your chosen filling, and place it into the space you made in the center of your disks.  Repeat until all kolaches are filled.

Sprinkle the tops of your filled kolaches with your sugar crumbs.  Aren't they pretty?
Put your beauties in the oven to bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until they achieve a lovely golden brown color.  Let them cool in the pan for about 15 minutes.

The wait is over! Try not to fall on them like a pack of wolves........at least, not while others are watching.