Traditional Czech Kolache Recipe With Fruit & Cheese Filling

I went out of my way on my last day of living in the Czech Republic (a country I called home for a couple of years) to stop at my favourite bakery and indulge in a freshly baked kolach – or koláč in Czech. I fell in love with these pastries while living there and knew that it was going to have to be something I would need to recreate once I left.

Consisting of an enriched, yeasted dough that’s puffed around a lightly sweetened cheese filling and then topped with either fruit or, often, ground poppy seeds, this is a slightly involved and time-consuming recipe, but it’s lots of fun to make!

So if you’re looking for a little slice of Prague in your home kitchen, this is the recipe to follow! They taste just like they do in the Czech Republic and are sure to be a hit amongst all you serve them to!

How to Make Authentic Czech Kolache

As I’ve already mentioned, this isn’t necessarily a complicated recipe but it is rather involved and time-consuming, so it’s important that you read the recipe through in its entirety before starting and make sure you dedicate enough time to make them.

I’ve found, as well, that the dough ends up with the optimal flavour and texture when given an overnight rest in the fridge – it is also very easy to work with when it’s chilled.

You can get by with chilling it for just four hours, but overnight is, in my opinion, both more convenient and results in superior flavour.

So the evening before you plan to bake your kolache (which is the plural term – singular is kolach), go ahead and make the dough. You can even get both the cheese filling and the streusel topping together and keep them in the fridge overnight, as well.

Now, making the dough is relatively straightforward and can be done easily by hand – or you can use a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook if you have one.

Start first by adding some sugar and lemon zest to a large mixing bowl. Use your fingertips to massage the zest into the sugar to release the oils – the sugar will look like moist sand. This brings out the flavour of the lemon zest even more – it’s the same thing I do with orange zest in my sour cherry cake!

To the sugar, whisk in some flour, salt and instant yeast. Make sure they’re well combined.

In a small bowl, whisk together some milk, a bit of neutral oil, some melted (but cooled) butter, some egg yolks and a whole egg.

Make a well in the flour mixture and pour the egg and milk mixture into it. Mix this until a shaggy dough forms and then turn it out onto a clean work surface to knead until smooth.

You may add more flour very sparingly if the dough is really sticky, but I recommend trying to resist it unless it is impossible to work with.

Keep kneading the dough for about 12-15 minutes – or until it passes the “windowpane test.” To check this pinch a small amount of dough and gently stretch it out. If you can form a thin sheet of dough that allows light to pass through without tearing, then you can stop kneading! This is the same indication I use in my dairy-free dinner rolls.

If you’re making the dough in a stand mixer, you can mix the dough at medium to low speed until it passes the test. It will generally take about 8-10 minutes.

Gather the dough into a ball and move it to a large, clean bowl. Now is a good time to take a photo of the dough so you can gauge how much it has risen.

Cover the bowl with plastic and allow it to sit in a warm place (about 25°C/78°F) until it has risen by about 50% – this will take about 45 minutes. Then, move the dough to the fridge to continue its rise. Keep in the fridge for at least 4 hours and up to 16.

Now, you can turn your attention to making the cheese filling! This has a base of farmer’s cheese (aka quark), which can be sourced at well-stocked supermarkets or – if you’re like me in Melbourne – at Eastern European groceries.

In Czech, it’s known as tvaroh, but you will also see it referred to as twarog in Polish or tvorog in Russian & Ukrainian.

Add the cheese to a medium mixing bowl along with some sour cream, a bit more lemon zest and a few spoonfuls of powdered sugar. You can make this as sweet or not as you’d like, so add more sugar as you see fit! Whisk this together until it’s smooth and evenly combined and set aside.

Now, all you need to do is make the streusel topping. This one isn’t too dissimilar to the crumble topping used on my apple crisp!

All you need to do is rub some butter, sugar and flour together with your fingertips until no visible pieces of butter remain and it has a moist, crumbly texture.

When your dough has rested and chilled, you will notice that it is very puffy. Remove it from the fridge and turn the dough out onto a clean work surface, pressing on the dough in order to de-gas it.

Then, evenly divide the dough into eight equal pieces – I like to use a scale to make sure that they are all even. Generally, expect them to weigh about 75 grams each. Use a cupped hand on the countertop to form each piece of dough into a small, taught ball.

Working one piece of dough at a time, use your fingertips to gently stretch it out into a disc that’s about 10cm (4in) in diameter, keeping the outer 1cm (⅓in) slightly thicker than the middle. Repeat this with each dough ball, setting them on two separate parchment-lined baking sheets (four on each tray).

Then, spoon one-eighth of the cheese filling into each kolach and spread it out to meet the raised edges. Then, arrange some fruit on top of the cheese!

I like using fresh berries (for this recipe, I used fresh blueberries and fresh raspberries). I also used some frozen (and defrosted) sour cherries. But you can be creative with the fruit that you use!

Loosely cover the kolach with plastic and allow them to proof at warm room temperature (about 25°C/78°F) until they’re very puffed and have increased in size by about 50%. This will take about 30-45 minutes.

Now you’re ready to bake! Generously sprinkle each pastry with the streusel topping and then move the tray (bake one tray at a time) to a 180°C/350°F oven.

Bake them until the kolache are very puffed, deeply golden and the fruit has begun to break down – this will take about 15-20 minutes.

Let the kolache cool for a few minutes before digging in – they’re great warm or at room temperature! They’ll last for a day or two stored in an airtight container at room temperature, but they’re best eaten on the day they’re baked.

And that’s how to make some authentic Czech kolache! This recipe is fundamentally simple, but it does require a bit of advance planning and a time commitment. It’s the perfect unique treat to make for a weekend baking project!

Do you want to make this traditional Czech pastry? Have any questions about this recipe? Let me know in the comments!