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Steps
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Sequence
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Step
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| 1 | Place the two packets of yeast into a bowl and sprinkle the 1/2 cup of sugar over the yeast to help "feed" the yeast and activate it. Dissolve this mixture in the lukewarm water and set aside to bloom for about 5 minutes. |
| 2 | Heat your milk and add butter to dissolve. Allow this too cool to about luke warm (you don''t want it so hot that it kills the yeast or cooks the eggs) and then add your salt, 2 beaten eggs, and additional 1 1/2 cups sugar. |
| 3 | Combine your eggs mixture and yeast mixture. Add flour gradually, working the dough by hand. You don''t want to mix too much flour into the dough; the dough should come together, but still be very sticky at this stage. Save any unused flour for kneading. |
| 4 | Add 1/2 cup vegetable oil to the dough and slightly work it into the dough. You don''t want to fully incorporate the oil; slightly work it into the dough and let the rest pool around the dough to help prevent it from sticking to the bowl while rising. |
| 5 | Cover the dough with a kitchen towl or plastic wrap and let rise to double in size in a warm place in the kitchen (I usually place the bowl on top of the pre-heating oven). |
| 6 | Once doubled in bulk, scrape the dough onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes. The more you knead the dough, the better the texture will be. You don''t want to skimp on activating any of the gluten! |
| 7 | Cover and let rise again for an additional 30 minutes. |
| 8 | After the dough has risen, divide the dough into about 4 sections and roll each section to about 1/4 in thickness. Using a round cookie cutter, cut the dough into circles. You can re-roll out any excess dough until all of the dough has been used. |
| 9 | Place the dough on a greased cookie sheet and make indentations in each kolache. Fill the indentations with a fruit filling of your choice (typically, prunes, apricots, cream cheese, or popsika). |
| 10 | Let the kolaches rise once more in the pans for about 30 minutes or until doubled in size. Bake at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes. |
| 11 | *For fruit filling: Use a dried fruit of your choice, about 3 cups. Place the fruit in a sauce pan with water (1 1/2 cups of water for each cup of fruit used) and cook covered over medium heat until the fruit has softened. Then cook UNCOVERED for about 10 minutes until the mixture has reduced and thickened. Mash the fruit mixture and then add in an additional 2 tablespoons of sugar or honey. Set aside to let this cool while you make your dough. |
