Bread Baking Babes (BBB): Kolache
postponed until the end of July….
Best laid plans, and all that…. I WAS going to make kolache earlier this week and schedule the write-up to appear today. But I looked at this week’s schedule and realized that it would be crazy not to wait until after I get back from UK, where I will be attending a week-long 4tet workshop at a small college in Yorkshire.
I flew to Edinburgh last night, and will be taking a train (thank goodness, there was no strike action for the 15 July) today to York. I will overnight in York and then a violinist from one of the other 4tets is coming to pick me up to take me to the College for a number of us (I think it’s 6 4tets) to stay there to be immersed in 4tet playing and listening until Friday 21 July. I will then get back on a train to head to Edinburgh to stay overnight for 2 nights before flying home.
I’m so excited!
I’m also nervous! Our 4tet will be working on Brahms 2nd 4tet, which is wonderfully beautiful as well as being devilishly – well, you know – it’s Brahms.
Hence, I’m afraid I will be very late with my kolache, making them when I return. Maybe there will be plums at the farmers’ market when I get back. Plum jam filling for kolaches would be so good, don’t you think?
In the meantime, excuse me while I go into the woodshed before my first rehearsal of Brahms tomorrow with the other three in our quartet.
Bread Baking Babes 
Kolache
Judy is hosting July 2023’s Bread Baking Babes’ project. She wrote:
Growing up, we had family friends, originally from the Chicago area, with whom we spent a fair amount of time. Occasionally, ‘Grandma’ would come to visit from Chicago, and the family would celebrate with a feast. She was very old-school – didn’t speak English and baked without measuring anything. Her dumplings were sublime, and her kolache were just as delicious.
Many Czech immigrants settled in the central United States, from Illinois down to Texas. My relatives started out in Illinois, and made their way to Ohio, Nebraska, and Iowa, and eventually to California. Immigrants who ended up in Texas created a kolache variation that used sausage instead of a sweeter filling.
Originating in central Europe, kolache are a type of semisweet pastry, made from a puffy yeast dough, and filled with cream cheese/farmers cheese, fruit jams, poppy seeds, or, in the case of the Texas version, sausage. Sizes range from sweet roll-size to cookie-size. There is usually a crumb topping as well.
– Judy, excerpt of message to BBBabes
We know you’ll want to make Kolache! To receive a Bread Baking Buddy Badge to display on your site: make the bread in the next couple of weeks and post about it (we love to see how your bread turns out AND hear what you think about it – what you didn’t like and/or what you liked) before the 29 July 2023. If you do not have a blog, no problem; you can also post your picture(s) to Flickr (or any other photo sharing site) and record your thoughts about the bread there. Please remember to contact the Kitchen of the Month to say that your post is up.
For complete details about this month’s recipe, the BBB and how to become a BBBuddy, please read:
- BBB Kitchen of the month:
Judy, Judy’s Gross Eats: Kolache, BBB July 2023 - BBBuddy guidelines
- about the BBBabes
Because I’m not even close to a computer (it’s through the magic of WordPress scheduling that this post is appearing today instead of last Wednesday when I typed it up), I have disabled comments. Because of spamming bots, all comments have to be moderated.
This recent attempt from “ralphsandlin” on 11 July 2023 (on Grape/Onion/Blue Cheese Fougasse is Fabulous written in 2012!!) illustrates perfectly why comment moderation is necessary:
I am no longer sure where you’re getting your info, but great topic. I must spend some time learning more or understanding more.
Thank you for excellent info I was in search of this info for my mission.
However, I have no access to a computer to accept comments if a real person makes them…. But I’m not complaining. I love the fact that I am internet-free for a week!
Still, I already miss this little creature who arrived here on 28 June. We picked her up from Toronto Cat Rescue. This photo was taken on her first day here, happily exploring the unaccustomed wide open spaces. (She has spent a large part of her first year in foster care or in a cage being transported from shelter to shelter; she was born in Texas!!)
1st Day in Her Forever Home
edit 10 August 2023: Here, at last, is proof that I made kolache: Apricot Kolache and Brioche (BBB July 2023)
