HoubyDaysBooklet 2025 digital - Flipbook - Page 15
Koláč Recipe
Each old Babi
(grandma) or Teta
(aunt) has her own
Special recipe!
Here’s a great one!
What is this called? One is
a koláč, pronounced
Koh lach - Pural is
koláče, pronounced
Koh lach eh !
Teta Helen’s Iowa State Fair Prize Winning Koláče
This recipe won the Grand Prize at the Iowa State
Fair for the Sweet Roll Category, in the late 1980’s. The
“prize” was a year’s supply of butter. Interestingly enough,
this amounted to 12 – one-pound boxes of butter. This recipe
is from a true Czech family, immigrating to the Vining/
Chelsea area of Iowa, known as the Bohemian Alps, in the
1850’s. We are proud to share this family version of the treasured
koláče, loved by so many!
1 pkg ACTIVE DRY yeast
1/2 c sugar
2 tbsp & 2 tsp warm water
1tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup lard
1 c potato water
1 eggs well beaten
1/2 c mashed potatoes
4 c flour-(King Arthur )
Start yeast in warm water and sugar. Let bubble up. Warm the
potato water. Add mashed potatoes, sugar, salt, lard and beaten eggs. Beat
well. Add dissolved yeast and 2 cups of the flour and beat for 5 minutes
until light and fluffy. Work-in the rest of the flour. Then knead well and
place in a greased bowl. Brush the top with melted butter and place in
warm place. Let rise till double in bulk; punch down and let rise again in
a warm place. Make into 2-inch balls, buttering hands to make the balls.
Let rise again for 15 minutes. Make indentations in buns, and fill with
your favorite fillings. Some people brush tops with raw beaten egg at this
point. Bake at 375 degrees F for 10-12 minutes. When nicely brown,
take out of oven and brush with butter on tops, then place Saran Wrap
over the kolaches, and gently place and cover with a dish towel, until
cool. This helps preserve the moisture of the fresh baked koláče.
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