Koláče
Round Czech yeast buns with a sweet quark or plum jam centre and a butter streusel. Sunday breakfast and wedding gifts.
Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen.
- Prep
- 40 min
- Cook
- 15 min
- Rest
- 1 hr 40 min
- Total
- 2 hr 35 min
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Spice
- No chilli
- Cost
- Cheap nightUnder $8 USD · indicative, not a store price
About
Koláče are round yeast buns about the size of a palm, with a hollow pressed in the middle and filled before baking. The fillings are the Czech pantry: sweetened quark (tvaroh), thick plum jam (povidla) or ground poppy seed, usually with a butter streusel over the top. This version makes sixteen from an enriched dough of milk, butter, egg and a little sugar, fills half with quark and half with plum jam, and crumbles streusel over both. They bake hot and fast and get brushed with melted butter as they come out. Poppy seed filling is traditional too, but grinding poppy at home is a job, so it is left for another day.
What you'll need
16 ingredients. Tap each one once it's out on the bench.
- Dough
- Quark filling
- Plum filling
- Streusel
Ingredients
Dough
- Wheat flour, plain500 g
- Milk, lukewarm200 ml
- Yeast, instant dried7 g
- Sugar60 g
- Butter, soft, plus 30 g melted for brushing80 g
- Egg, one in the dough, one beaten for glazing2
- Salt2½ ml
- Lemon, zest only1
- Vanilla sugar1 sachet
Quark filling
- Sweet quark, or plain quark with 30 g extra sugar; drained if wet300 g
- Raisins (optional)30 g
Plum filling
- Plum jam, thick, dark povidla if you can find it250 g
Streusel
- Wheat flour80 g
- Butter, cold, cubed50 g
- Sugar50 g
Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.
Steps
Step 1
Mix flour, yeast, sugar, vanilla sugar, salt and lemon zest. Add the milk, one egg and the soft butter and knead 10 minutes to a smooth, slightly sticky dough. Cover and rise 1 hour until doubled.
75 min
Step 2
Beat the quark with the yolk and raisins. Rub the streusel flour, butter and sugar together into coarse crumbs and chill.
8 min
Step 3
Divide the dough into 16 pieces of about 60 g, roll into balls and set them well apart on two lined trays. Flatten each to 8 cm, cover and rest 20 minutes.
25 min
Step 4
Heat the oven to 200°C. Press a deep hollow in each bun with the base of a small glass, leaving a 1 cm rim. Fill eight with quark and eight with plum jam, a heaped tablespoon each. Brush the rims with beaten egg and scatter streusel over the fillings.
15 min200°C
Tip: Press firmly. A shallow hollow rises shut in the oven and the filling slides off.
Step 5
Bake 12 to 15 minutes until golden at the edges. Brush the rims with melted butter the moment they come out and cool on a rack.
15 min200°C
Nutrition
Per serving · estimate
- Calories
- 273 kcal
- Protein
- 6.4 g
- Carbs
- 41.1 g
- Fat
- 9.3 g
- Saturated fat
- 5 g
- Fibre
- 1.8 g
- Sugar
- 10.1 g
- Sodium
- 103 mg
Calculated from canonical ingredient data (USDA FoodData Central averages and equivalent published tables). Estimates only.
Allergens
Informational only. Not a medical guarantee. Cross-contamination happens in real kitchens.
- Wheat
- Milk
- Eggs
- Vegetarian
Adapt this recipe
The original recipe stays as it is. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are simple maths.
Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 12 November.
Substitutions
Plum jam → Apricot jam or thick apple purée
Both are seen in Czech bakeries. Avoid runny jams; they boil over.
Quark → Ricotta beaten with a spoon of cream cheese and sugar
Close in texture. Drain it first.
Tips
- Wet quark makes a soggy bun. Hang it in muslin over a bowl for an hour if it looks loose.
- They are best the day they are baked and acceptable the next morning warmed for 3 minutes in the oven.
- Freeze the baked buns, not the dough. They come back well.
History & culture
Wedding food above all: small ones, svatební koláčky, are baked by the hundred and handed to guests and neighbours. Otherwise they are Sunday breakfast, bakery counter food and the thing a visiting aunt brings in a tin. Moravian koláče are bigger and flatter. Czech settlers in Texas kept the name as kolaches and added sausage, which no Czech recognises.
Round yeasted cakes were feast bread in Bohemia from the Middle Ages; the name comes from kolo, wheel. The fillings track the farm: quark from the dairy, plums cooked down for days in autumn, poppy from the fields. Texas kolaches date from Czech immigration in the 1850s and went their own way.
Traditional — Quark and plum fillings only; poppy seed is equally traditional and omitted here for practicality.
Provenance: Editorial adaptation.
Questions about this recipe
Answers taken from this dish's times, amounts, swaps and tips.
How long does Koláče take?
2 hr 35 min all in — 40 min prep, 15 min cook, 1 hr 40 min rest. Cook and rest follow the method. Leftover storage and optional extra waits are not included.
How many does it serve?
The recipe is written for 16 pieces. Scale the ingredient list on the page if you are cooking for a different number.
How hard is it?
Medium.
How spicy is it?
No chilli.
What allergens should I watch?
This recipe is labelled for Wheat, Milk, Eggs. Labels are informational — check the packets in your kitchen. This is not medical advice.
Does it fit a diet?
The published recipe is labelled Vegetarian.
8 more questionsFewer questions
What does it cost to cook?
Cheap night — about Under $8 USD, as a grocery budget for this recipe, not a restaurant price.
What equipment do I need?
Mixing bowl, Baking tray, Oven, Kitchen scale, Timer.
How much salt do I put in?
The recipe lists Salt at ½ tsp.
How much sugar?
60 g of Sugar.
How much sugar?
50 g of Sugar.
What can I use instead?
Plum jam → Apricot jam or thick apple purée. Both are seen in Czech bakeries. Avoid runny jams; they boil over. Quark → Ricotta beaten with a spoon of cream cheese and sugar. Close in texture. Drain it first.
Any tips from this recipe?
Wet quark makes a soggy bun. Hang it in muslin over a bowl for an hour if it looks loose. They are best the day they are baked and acceptable the next morning warmed for 3 minutes in the oven. Freeze the baked buns, not the dough. They come back well.
Can I use an air fryer?
This method is not written for an air fryer. The core technique on the page still applies.
