German Style Kolaches Recipes

Steps:

• In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar in warm milk; let stand 10 minutes. In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, remaining sugar, egg yolks, salt, butter and yeast/milk mixture. Mix until smooth. Add enough remaining flour to make a stiff dough. , Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Add additional flour if necessary. Place dough in greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover; let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. , Punch dough down and allow to rise again. Roll out on floured surface to 1/2-in. thickness. Cut with large glass or 2-1/2-in. cutter. Place on greased baking sheets; let rise until doubled, about 45 minutes. , Firmly press indentation in center and fill each roll with a heaping tablespoon of filling. Brush dough with egg white. Bake at 350° for 10-15 minutes or until rolls are light golden brown.

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.

Steps:

• In large mixing bowl pour hot water sprinkle yeast over hot water. Set aside. Heat milk until very warm to touch, add sugar and salt to mild. Stir until sugar is dissolved, add eggs and oil to milk mixture. Stir well. Pour milk into yeast in bowl and stir.
• Pour in 2 cups flour and mix well. Beat to remove lumps. Continue to add 2 cups flour at a time and mix well after addition. Cover with cloth, sit in a warm place and let rise for 1 hour or until double in bulk.
• Pour 1/2 dough onto floured board roll out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut with biscuit cutter. Place mini-cocktail franks or ground sausage onto one circle, top with the second circle and press edges together with fork.
• Place in greased baking sheet one inch apart. Brush tops with oil. Let rise for 30 minutes. Bake at 375ºF. for 15 minutes or until brown. Brush top with butter. Serve warm.

Steps:

• Mix 2 cups of flour, 1/2 cup of sugar, yeast, and salt. Add 1.5 cups of hot water (but not boiling). Beat this and then add eggs, mixing. Add the other 3 cups of flour.
• Knead until smooth and satiny, about 8 to 10 minutes. Form into a ball.
• Lightly grease a large bowl (at least twice as large as your ball of dough). Put the dough round side down in the greased bowl, then turn over so that the greased side is up. Cover with a slightly damp towel. Put in a warm place (or as warm as you have in the winter, but not a lit oven). Let it rise until doubled, about 75 minutes. You don't want to leave the dough too long, however. Dough can actually over-rise.
• Punch down the dough. Reshape into a ball. Recover bowl. Let rise till double. It should take less time this time around, but it varies -- maybe 45 - 60 minutes. All of these rises can take longer if your house is cold.
• If using a prune filling, simmer them with some water until soft; mash thoroughly. Let cool.
• If desiring an apricot filling but not having access to canned Solo filling, you can make it out of dried apricots. Snip 3/4 cups of dried apricots into small pieces. Simmer,covered, with 1-1/2 cups water for 10 minutes. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes more. Stir in 2 tablespoons of sugar. Let cool before using.
• Pinch off balls of dough about 1.5 inches in diameter. Pat out into a circle. Put a spoonful of filling inside. Fold over and seal. Put in pan. Parchment-lined cookie sheets work well. The recipe doesn't say it, but I'd leave some room between them because they'll grow during the next rise -- yep, let rise again. This rise should be 45 - 60 minutes.
• Make topping: crumble together 1.25 cups flour, sugar and butter.
• Make a groove in the center of each and put on a big pinch of topping. Bake at 350°F until nicely golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.
• NOTE: This is how my recipe card reads; however, I swear that I remember her making them the following way. Pinch off the ball of dough. Make an indentation in it. Fill with a spoonful of the filling. Sprinkle topping on it before baking.

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.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add the sugar, pudding mix, sour cream, oil, salt, eggs and 2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to form a soft dough. Cover and refrigerate dough overnight., Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into 24 pieces. Shape each into a ball. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes., Using the end of a wooden spoon handle, make a large indentation in the center of each ball; fill with 2 tablespoons of filling. Bake at 350° for 14-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.