Czech immigrants to Louisiana brought to our shores recipes for filled buns called kolaches. These can be filled with sweet or savory fillings – I’ve had sausage and cheese kolaches in Lafayette and creole cream cheese ones in Metairie. As there are people stoping by on the way to parades on Fat Tuesday, I made mine with a lemon cream cheese filling.
Because I am using my sourdough starter, I started by making the sponge the morning before on Lundi Gras and then let the dough proof overnight before the shaping of the buns and baking in the morning of Mardi Gras.
I divided my cream cheese into two batches, colored them with yellow and blue food coloring and put them in the bun wells in a stripe, symbolizing the Ukrainian national flag. We may be a world apart but I liked the idea of honoring their fight against the Russian invaders. Slava Ukraini! Heroiam slava! (“Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!”)
Tasty with a deliciously tangy bite from the lemon juice. These take a bit of time but were a cool way to use my sourdough starter.
Lemon Cream Cheese Sourdough Kolaches
Take 1 cup from your sourdough starter and feed it with 1 cup of flour and ½ cup of warm water. Mix well and set aside on the counter for eight hours.
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon Kosher salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup milk
2 egg yolks (reserve the whites)
½ cup of the sourdough sponge
1 ½ cups of filling
Whisk together the dry ingredients (sugar, 3 cups of flour and salt) in a large bowl. Mash the softened butter into the dry ingredients with a fork.
Warm the milk in the microwave for 10 to 15 seconds. It should be warm, not hot. Whisk the egg yolks into the warm milk along with the sourdough starter. Stir until well combined.
Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until no dry pockets remain. Allow the mixture to rest for an hour.
Use the final cup of flour to dust the work surface and your hands. Turn out the dough and form into a ball and knead until smooth, about 10 minutes. Butter a bowl and place the dough inside to proof for eight hours.
Divide the dough into quarters and divide each quarter into three pieces. Roll gently between your hands to form balls. Place on a baking sheets and don’t crowd the pan as they will be doubling in size. Cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
To fill the kolaches, take your fingers and press an indentation in the center of each risen ball of dough. You are looking to create a deep hollow surrounded by puffy sides of dough. Place about a tablespoon of filling into each depression.
Beat the egg whites and brush them over the exposed dough. Bake for 20 minutes, until the dough is a light golden brown.
Eat them warm from the oven, or let them cool and store them in an airtight container.
Here is the filling recipe that I used. You can also use jam, if you don’t want to make your own.
Lemon Cream Cheese Filling
8 ounces cream cheese left at room temperature for at least 30 minutes
1 large egg separated (reserve egg white to use as egg wash)
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
Dash salt
Place the cream cheese, egg yolk, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and zest and salt in a medium bowl and beat together with an electric mixer until smooth. Cover and place in the fridge. Pull out to soften slightly ahead of the end of the final proof.