Authentic Moravian Kolache / Kolač

My Granny, Vlasta Patricia Mičan Strathman
holding my brother's hand.

Today would have been my Granny's 100th birthday.  She was of Moravian Czech Decent born in Dubina Texas in 1911.  In honor of her I am posting her recipe for Authentic Czech Kolache / Kolač.

We are of Moravian decent before the merge of Bohemia and Moravia which created Czechoslovakia. My great grandmother never learned to speak English and only spoke Moravian which is now a dead language except for what is preserved as "Texas Czech".

Kolach - in Czech "koláč" - is singular and pronounced approx. kohlach (with long "a"). "Koláče" is plural, pronounced kohlacheh (long "a" again).

It’s a Czech pastry, kind of like a danish, with a filling in the center. Traditional fillings are usually apricot, peach, prune, cream cheese, poppy seed, & cottage cheese.

CONTRARY to some folks, a Kolache is NOT dough wrapped around a sausage…NO, that is called a klobasnek, sausage roll or what we Texans call..a “Pig-In-The-Blanket”.  PLEASE, re-educate everyone and spread the word.


Klobasneck: Uses similar bread to the kolache but is filled with a piece of sausage. These are sometimes mistakenly referred to as kolaches. They may also contain ham and cheese, sausage, jalapeño slices, and more resemble a “pig in a blanket” than the original pastry. There is also a sweet and flakey filled pastry with Polish origins called the Kolachky.

I have been accused of being a Czech snob. I am ok with that. It is my culture and it is important to me that people understand the difference. I would hope others would teach me if I was incorrect with something in their culture.  You know like calling an Asian egg roll a burrito.

How to make Authentic Kolache / Kolač

First I mixed the shortening, sugar, salt and 1 egg along with 2 yolks while the milk was warming a bit. Place the egg whites from the two eggs you separated aside until later. You want to warm the milk to dissolve the yeast.

After the milk is warmed a bit at abt 1 Tbs of sugar (to feed yeast) then add 2 yeast packets. Stir well with a spoon to activate yeast then let it sit for about 10 minutes. (Salt from your hands can kill the yeast)

Add some flour to the shortening mix then add some the yeast mixture. Add a little more flour then the rest of the yeast mixture. Blend well with a spoon. Once the ingredient is mixed well you can use your hands. Adding flour and mixing until the flour no longer sticks to your hands or the bowl.

Let the dough sit covered to rise. This takes about 1 hour. After it has risen pull off balls and make the kolache to the desired diameter and thickness on the cookie sheet. Let them rise a second time (Maybe 45 minutes).

Press the dough in the center of the kolache to make a depression for the filling. There are filling recipes online. We used blackberry preserves, strawberry pie filling, and mango preserves along with making cream cheese filling. Be careful not to overfill!

After you have added the filling add a bit of milk to the two egg whites and whip good. Take a brush or a paper towel and lightly brush the pastry surrounding the filling. This gives it a pretty shiny finish.

We baked ours at 400 degrees. (Watch them as time varies.)

(Note:  Harriet likes it better if they are brushed with melted butter instead of egg.  Also she likes her's a little moister therefore she doesn't like her's cooked quite as long.)

Heritage - The Stuff You are Made Of

My Great Grandparents
Aloisia Krecjeck and August Mičan

I grew up in Northeast Texas in the Piney woods.  I was one of those people that just wouldn't stay in the house.  I was like a caged animal inside.  I needed the freedom of romping around.  It is here where I developed my love for nature.  It just came naturally to me.  I felt at home when people were not so close.  I still do.  I like people close enough for emergencies but far enough for privacy.


I believe it is very important to know where you come from in order to know where you are going.  It has been through my experience that much is passed on genetically.  I feel my drive to be self sufficient and live off the land came from my earliest ancestors who came to the new world to build a better life than they left behind.

I am of German & Moravian Czech decent on my biological father's side.  I am a decedent of the Muzny family who was one of the original founding families of Dubina, Texas.  Dubina Texas Information


My German ancestory's migration to Texas was document in Monken / Fietsam Journey to Texas 1845 -- 1846.


My Aunt told me that the Czechs were the farmers and the Germans were the business men. So I guess I got my love for self sufficiency from my Moravian Czech ancestors.  March 2011, I visited Dubina, Texas for the second time.  My goal was to find the Mičan Homestead.


My Aunt had given me directions from what she could remember from her visits as a little girl.  With a prayers to my Granny Mičan Strathman and my Aunt Pat's directions I drove right to the place.  All the stories that my Aunt had shared with me of the old homestead came flooding back to me.  Where was the original placement of the house.  Can I find where the old root cellar was?  There is the old oak tree that my Aunts had told me they all played on as children as well as my Granny.  I wandered around and absorbed as much as I could.  This was my heritage.  I took lots of pictures for some had changed but most had stayed the same.  The house had been moved further on the hill to catch the breeze better for the house never had running water or electricity when my family owned the property.  My Granny had learned to cook koláč on a wood burning stove.  Simply amazing to me.

In the words of my Aunt Pat:
"My most wonderful food memory: when we visited the farm, my mother would fix the greatest breakfast for Len (my father) and me! She would cut thick slices of Grandmother's homemade bread, spread it with homemade molasses and toast the bottom on the wood stove. My own children have never had it so good! 

Original House with the two side and back additions

If this front porch could talk

So what did I find out about me through this journey in my ancestry.  I learned that I come from good hearty stock.  The kind that doesn't give up and thrives despite it all.  I feel more connected with my family than I ever have and I carry them with me now.  I am rich beyond measure for I have roots sowed deep in this Texas soil where my relatives laid the foundation for me to live today.  I may not live on the old homestead however for the past 2 1/2 years we have been building our own.  We are pretty proud of it too.

The 200 plus year old live oak. It is the oldest oak in the area.
Dubina is Czech for "Oak Grove".