Czech Kolache at Home, Inspired by Four Green Cats' Pastry Case

Four Green Cats Cafe is moving its Czech pastry case to The Grand Salon at 18 Tanner Street in Haddonfield. Regulars already know the soft yeast kolaches, fruit-filled or savory, that sat beside the Bohemian donuts in Mount Laurel. This is a home bake inspired by that style. It is not the cafe's recipe.

South Jersey Food Scene and Explore New Jersey both describe traditional kolaches as a signature. Owner Nadia Vasa's baking draws on her great-grandmother Katerina's cooking: European flour, butter and ghee, light spice, restrained sweetness. WhatsOpening still listed the Tanner Street opening as unconfirmed as of Nov. 5, so check social channels before you assume the pastry case is open. Meanwhile, your oven works fine.

What you are making

A kolach (plural kolache) is a round yeast bun with a deep center well filled after a second rise. Cook Like Czechs stresses that authentic Czech kolache stay round and flat, never square, with fruit, poppy seed or fresh cheese in the middle. The dough below follows King Arthur Baking's Czech Kolaches (about 30 small pastries, roughly 3 hours 40 minutes start to finish).

Dough

• 1 1/4 cups (283g) lukewarm milk, divided
• 2 1/2 teaspoons instant or active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon (14g) sugar
• 3 1/4 cups (390g) all-purpose flour
• 6 tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

Stir 1/4 cup milk with the yeast, sugar and 1/4 cup flour. Rest 15 minutes until bubbly. Add the rest of the dough ingredients and knead until smooth and a little sticky. Cover and rise 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until doubled.

Quick apple filling (half batch)

Peel, core and finely chop 2 Granny Smith apples. Mix 1/4 cup sugar with 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch; stir into the apples. Cook over medium heat until thick and tender. Off heat, add 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 cup chopped pecans and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Cool completely.

Quick cheese filling (half batch)

Whisk 2 tablespoons flour with 1/4 cup sugar. Mix in 1/2 cup well-drained ricotta or farmer's cheese and a pinch of nutmeg until smooth.

Streusel

Rub 1/3 cup sugar, 1/4 cup flour and 2 tablespoons melted butter into crumbs.

Shape, fill, bake

Heat the oven to 375°F. Deflate the dough and cut walnut-size pieces (about 1 ounce). Shape into slightly flattened balls on a parchment-lined sheet. Rise until puffy, 30 to 45 minutes. Press a deep well in each center. Fill with a mounded tablespoon of apple filling or 2 teaspoons of cheese. Crumble on streusel. Bake 20 to 25 minutes until golden. Cool before serving. Store refrigerated up to a week; reheat 5 minutes at 350°F.

Local angle, without copying the cafe

When The Grand Salon opens at 18 Tanner Street, you can compare notes with the real pastry case. Until then, this batch fills a Saturday morning the same way Four Green Cats' Mount Laurel counter did for years. For more downtown food news, see our recent restaurant roundup.

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