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czech kolache

Cream cheese kolache recipe

Cream Cheese Kolache is a famous Czech pastry which is made from a soft and rich dough, shaped into a small disc with indentation in the middle. The center is filled with some kind of sweet filling, often made from dried fruit and/or cheese. 
5 from 5 votes
Prep Time 18 minutes
Cook Time 18 minutes
Proofing time 1 hour 15 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 51 minutes
Course Breakfast, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American, Czech
Servings 18 Cream cheese kolache

Ingredients
  

For the dough

  • 390 g All purpose flour/Bread flour 3 cups (loosely packed)
  • 120 ml Warm Milk 1/2 Cup If you don’t want to add milk, you can use plain water instead.
  • 120 ml Warm Water 1/2 Cup
  • 57 g Unsalted Butter (softened) 1/4 Cup
  • 32 g Sugar 2 and 1/2 tbsp
  • 6 g Salt 1 tsp
  • 3 g Yeast (instant /active dried yeast) 1tsp

For the cream cheese filling

  • 226 g Cream Cheese 8 oz
  • 50 g Sugar 1/4 cup
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract/vanilla powder
  • 1 Egg Yolk or 2 tbsp flour

Instructions
 

Prepare the dough

  • Into a bowl add the warm milk and water, sugar,salt,yeast and softened butter and combine everything together.
  • Then add in the flour into this mixture and combine them together to form a shaggy mass of dough.
  • If you are kneading the dough by hands, transfer the dough on to a clean work surface and knead the dough for a few minutes(6-8 minutes)until it form a smooth dough.
  • The dough may feel sticky in the beginning, thats ok,(that’s the way it should be); you may be tempted to add more flour but don’t do that.The dough will come together in about 5 minutes of kneading.

First Proofing(30 minutes)

  • Shape it into a ball ; then flatten it a little and then cover it with a bowl or kitchen towel and let the dough rest on the counter for thirty minutes.This will let the dough sit for a few minutes so that the gluten stands will relax.
    This resting will prevent our dough from enormous rebounding back of the dough while rolling it into a thin rectangular sheet.

Divide and Shape the kolaches

  • So for the next step of shaping the rolls, first we need to roll the dough into a sheet (1/2 inch thick).
  • Then using a cookie cutter or with the open mouth of a glass ,cut rounds (about 2 1/2 inches in diameter). 
  • Place the dough rounds onto a parchment lined baking sheet.

Second Rising(45 minutes)

  • Then cover and allow the dough discs to rise for 45 minutes.
  • Prepare the cream cheese filling for kolache by mixing cream cheese ,sugar and vanilla powder or vanilla extract.
  • When the dough discs are puffy, use the bottom of a glass or measuring cup to press a deep indentation into the center.Press firm and deep;or otherwise the cream cheese filling will overflow during baking. 
  • Brush the surface of the rim with an egg wash, so that they will get a golden brown colour and shine after baking.
  • Fill the center with a mixture of cream cheese,sugar, and vanilla(1 and 1/2 to 2 tbsp).
    Now our kolache dough discs are ready to go into the oven for baking.

Bake the kolaches

  • Bake at 375 F or 190 C for 18-20 minutes.
    Baking duration may vary according to the thickness of the kolache.The more thick the kolache the more baking time will it require.

Video

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