Sourdough Koláče

Koláče is, without an exaggeration, a Czech national treasure. It differs in size and design in every Czech region but at its heart, koláče is a leavened round dough filled with plum jam, quark or poppy seeds (or all of them together), or alternatively with fruit, topped with a mixture of flour, sugar and butter. It’s sweet and irresistible. From an early age, all Czechs have a deep-seated love for koláče. “I have some koláče for you” is a constant refrain of Czech life, be it on a visit to grandmother’s house or when picking the kids up from school. Deep down, it’s a reassurance that the world remains a safe and happy place.

I grew up in western Bohemia where koláče are huge and very decorative. In our village we made them at home once a year, for the main village feast of St. Peter in the beginning of July, the very start of the summer holidays. Our family spent the entire Saturday making koláče for the Sunday feast, we made about 40 of them, 23 cm in diameter. For decoration we started with a quark mixture that we filled piping bags with. This job was never given to us, the children, no matter how much we begged, but was always entrusted to my mom who was considered to have the finest quark decorative skills, at least in our family. This prestigious post could have been approved only by years of experience and steady success as it was highly important to make the basic pattern on koláče beautiful. There were several designs we used and the quark pattern was followed by piping the plum jam and then the poppy seeds mixture on the round base. Children had the safe task of distributing almonds and raisins on top. We stored the koláče in a cellar on long wooden shelves and they were not all for our family but also gifts for the coming guests.

Koláče is quite elaborate and caloric but it has the magic power of bringing families together. It is fun to make it together and it is a joy to eat them. Here I tried their simple and healthy version, with dough from natural yeast, whole grain spelt flour and brown sugar. It is not less yummy than those from white flour, white sugar and commercial yeast and you can eat it without remorse.

Ingredients (for 20 little koláče)

For the stiff starter:

25 g sourdough starter
90 g whole grain spelt or wheat flour
20 g brown sugar
40 g water

You can mix the stiff starter before going to bed and leave it out overnight. Or you can do it in the morning and wait at least 6 hours for the starter to become alive.

For the dough:

all of your active starter
500 g whole grain spelt flour
60 g brown sugar
2 egg yolks
100 g softened butter
250 g tepid milk
1/4 tsp salt
orange peel from one orange
1 whipped egg for the glaze

For the quark filling:

250 g quark
2 egg yolks
cream (the amount needed depends on the consistence of the quark)
lemon peel
a handful of raisins
splash of rum (optional)
25 g brown sugar

For the plum jam filling:

250 plum jam
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp clove
1/4 tsp cardamon
pinch of nutmeg
splash of rum (optional)

For the topping:

30 g brown sugar
30 g butter
30 g ground almonds

Method

Making the dough:

Whisk sugar with egg yolks, butter and orange peel.
Add the milk and then the flour with salt and the starter.
Mix it well.
Cover with a wet kitchen towel or a plastic wrap and leave the dough to rest until it doubles its size. It can take as long as 6 hours. You can also leave the bowl in the fridge over night.

Quark filling:

Whisk egg yolks with sugar and lemon peel and add it to the quark.
Add enough cream so that the quark becomes soft and creamy.
Add raisins that you can soak in rum for an hour beforehand.

Plum jam filling:

Mix plum jam with the spices in a pot and warm it up all together on a low heat.

For the topping:

Mix almonds, butter and sugar together by hand.

When the dough has risen:

Heat up the oven for 180 °C.
Make little egg-size balls from the dough.
Roll out the balls and fill each one with the quark mixture. Then seal it and make balls again.
Cover the balls with a kitchen towel and let it rest for 30 minutes.
Take a glass of an adequate size and press the bottom against the ball to make a round shape of kolace with thicker edges. Smear the edges with the whisked egg.
Put the plum jam on the top and spread the topping on it.
Bake until brown and enjoy!