A lighter version of hefty danishes these round, soft buns are made with a rich, yeast-based dough that is slightly sweet and buttery, giving them a tender and airy texture.
You can use a variety of sweet fillings, such as:
- Fruit Fillings: Plum, apricot, cherry, or blueberry.
- Poppy Seed Filling: Gound poppy seeds mixed with sugar and milk.
- Cheese Filling: Made from a sweetened farmer’s cheese or cream cheese, often flavored with vanilla and lemon zest.
- Nut Filling: Typically made from ground walnuts or almonds mixed with sugar and butter.
Today we’re using blueberries, sour cherries, and peaches. This makes for not only a delicious danish bun but also a lovely and vibrant plate.
Things to note:
- Dough indent: It doesn’t have to be perfect. You’ll note the glass I used didn’t create the exact indent I would have liked the first time I used it on the dough, so I did it again closer to filling. If yours works well the first time, that’s great! If you need to indent your dough a couple more times, that is OK too.
- Crumbles: The crumbles are sticky, so they’ll take a bit of working through your fingers.
- The devil is in the details: Be sure to let the dough rise properly, coat with oil, and don’t forget the egg wash. All of these things will make a difference in how your Kolache comes out.
- Parchment paper: Clean-up is never fun but this makes it easy as can be. My go-to parchment paper can be found here.
Ingredients
Scale
Dough
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 1.5 cups milk (375ml)
- 1/2 cup sugar (100g) + a pinch for yeast
- 1/2 cup oil (125ml) + 2 teaspoons for coating
- 2 eggs (beaten)
- 6 cups bread flour sifted (~750g)
- 1 teaspoon salt
Cheese filling
- 8 oz (226g) Philadelphia cream cheese
- 1/4 cup (50g) sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
Egg wash
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon of water
Crumble
- 2 tablespoons of unsalted melted butter
- 3 tablespoons of sugar
- 3–4 tablespoons of flour
Toppings
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- Blueberries
- Cherries
- Sliced peaches
- You can use any fruit of your choice
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Instructions
- Mix the yeast with a pinch of sugar in 1/2 a cup of warm milk (110F), and leave to bubble.
- Put the remaining 1 cup of warm milk in your mixing bowl.
- Add the yeast mixture, sugar, oil, and eggs into the mixing bowl.
- Mix in about 1.5 cups out of 6 cups of sifted flour.
- Add the salt. Then, add the remainder of the flour while mixing on low speed.
- Once dough forms, transfer it onto a floured surface and form a ball.
- Grease a bowl with 2 teaspoons of oil and put the dough in your bowl. Turn it over a few times to fully coat the dough.
- Cover and let rise for 1.5 to 2 hours, until double in size.
- Once ready, form a long cylinder with your dough by folding it into the shape. Divide the dough into 15 individual pieces and form balls of each (see video for visual).
- Line the dough balls onto a baking pan lined with parchment paper.
- Use a small glass to make an indentation on each ball of dough. This is for your cheese mixture and fruits.
- Cover and leave to rise for 1 hour. Once risen, repeat pressing pastries with your glass to fully make an indentation.
- Make your egg wash by mixing 1 egg yolk with 1 teaspoon of water. Brush the pastries.
- Make your cream cheese mixture by combining the cream cheese with the egg, sugar, vanilla extract, and lemon zest.
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- Fill each pastry center with the cream cheese mixture.
- Cover with your choice of fruits. I used blueberries, sliced peaches, and cherries.
- Prepare a crumble by mixing the unsalted melted butter, sugar, and flour and mash together.
- Sprinkle the crumbles over your pastries with your fingers.
- Bake at 375F (190C) for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
