{"id":8471,"date":"2026-10-19T23:32:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:32:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8471"},"modified":"2026-10-31T19:10:24","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T10:10:24","slug":"kolace","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/kolace\/","title":{"rendered":"Kol\u00e1\u010de"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

These pastries have fillings of white cheese, black poppy seed and deep purplish-brown plum set inside a plump rim. In Czech, kol\u00e1\u010de is a word that broadly refers to baked pastries, but the ones discussed here are round yeasted pastries topped with sweet fillings. Some are small and eaten one at a time, others are single large rounds cut into slices, and they have been associated with weddings, church celebrations and pilgrimage festivals.<\/p>\n

Thin in the center, thick at the rim<\/h2>\n

Flour, yeast, milk, sugar, eggs, fat and other ingredients are kneaded and left to rise; the dough is then divided, shaped into balls and rested a little longer. Some recipes (ingredient proportions and method) add lemon zest or nutmeg. The rested dough is pressed outward from the center with the fingers, leaving the rim thick. This turns the thin center into a cradle for the filling. The rim, brushed with beaten egg, bakes into a ring with a golden sheen.<\/p>\n

Typical fillings are tvaroh, a fresh-cheese-type dairy product; ground poppy seeds; and povidla, plums cooked down until thick. Sugar and egg yolks are mixed into the tvaroh, and milk, water or other liquids are added to the poppy seeds to make a paste in which the seeds do not scatter. Some versions use walnut filling or fruit. Small ones with a single filling in the center and large ones with several fillings arranged in sections also differ in how many fillings go into one bite.<\/p>\n

\"Small<\/p>\n

Small kol\u00e1\u010de. The dark filling in the center and the thick rim left around it are visible. Photo: Chmee2, 2007-05-26, Czechia. Original image<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>. Downscaled version from the distributing source; no additional editing.<\/p>\n

Different ways of arranging the fillings in the highlands and lowlands of Chodsko<\/h2>\n

In the Chodsko region of West Bohemia, there is a craft of decorating the surface of the large rounds in distinct ways. According to the Doma\u017elice town cultural center, in versions made in the highlands, cheese, poppy seed and plum are arranged in bands so that all three show on top. Raisins are placed on the cheese, almonds on the plum, and small flowers of white cheese on the poppy seed, and after baking the pastry is sprinkled with a rum-flavored cream.<\/p>\n

In versions made in the lowlands, the whole surface is first covered white with cheese, and then patterns are drawn on top with poppy seed and plum. This work, called merhov\u00e1n\u00ed<\/em>, is also presented as connected with the patterns of the local folk costume. Even with the same three fillings, whether they are separated into bands or drawn on a white ground changes both the look of the whole round and the proportion of each filling in every slice.<\/p>\n

\n\"A\n
A kol\u00e1\u010d from the Chodsko region (2011). A round with a black pattern drawn on a white ground. Its surface composition differs from that of versions with the fillings arranged in bands. Photo: Dezidor \u201cChodsk\u00fd kol\u00e1\u010d\u201d \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY 3.0<\/a>. Image obtained from the distributing source. No alterations to the content or cropping made here.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Festive tables and the large pastries of Wallachia<\/h2>\n

Weddings, church festivals and pilgrimage festivals bring together tasks that can be shared out: kneading, letting the dough rise, making several kinds of filling, arranging them on the surface and so on. When a large round is cut, each slice contains the soft rim and several rich fillings; with a small one, you eat your way from the rim toward the center. In this way, poppy seed, cheese and fruit are enjoyed together with a bread dough that contains milk and fat.<\/p>\n

In the Wallachia region of eastern Czechia, there is also the large, flat Vala\u0161sk\u00fd frg\u00e1l<\/a>, which is protected as a regional pastry. Kol\u00e1\u010de do not all refer to this one type; local forms survive in their size, fillings and decoration.<\/p>\n

In the Han\u00e1 region of Moravia, there was also the \u201cwedding tree,\u201d for which a large round of dough was baked for a wedding and topped with dough figures attached to sticks and paper decorations. The bride\u2019s godparent took the lead, and it was made over several days with the help of several people. The decorations differed from village to village, and after the feast the pastry was cut and shared among the guests along with the decorations on the sticks. The Prost\u011bjov Museum explains that these wedding pastry customs survived in the region until the mid-20th century.<\/p>\n

\n\"A\n
A large frg\u00e1l from the Wallachia region topped with poppy seed (year taken unknown). Black poppy-seed filling is spread inside the round dough, and fine granules are scattered over the surface. Photo: Tombart \u201cMakovy frgal\u201d \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY 3.0<\/a>. Image obtained from the distributing source. No alterations to the content or cropping made here.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

A name derived from \u201cwheel,\u201d and what it means in Texas<\/h2>\n

In Czech, the singular is kol\u00e1\u010d and the plural is kol\u00e1\u010de. In discussing the Austrian loanword Kolatsche, the linguist Heinz Dieter Pohl connects the Czech kol\u00e1\u010d<\/em> with kolo<\/em>, \u201cwheel,\u201d because of its round shape. There are pastries with similar names across the Slavic-speaking world, but their present-day forms and recipes differ from place to place.<\/p>\n

In Texas, where emigrants settled, the range of pastries the name kolache refers to widens even further. A guide from the city of Temple distinguishes sweet kolaches topped with fruit or cream cheese from klobasneks, which wrap sausage, cheese, jalape\u00f1o and the like. However, because the latter are also commonly called \u201csausage kolaches,\u201d the same name is used for both sweet round buns with the filling showing on top and buns that wrap meat.<\/p>\n

A Czech man living in the United States and his family served small kol\u00e1\u010de with beer after his wedding. Later, when his wife baked them at home, she used a recipe she had received from her husband\u2019s mother and made the dough while her husband taught her. Since she could not obtain ground poppy seeds, she reportedly prepared only a filling made with farmer\u2019s cheese. The ingredients available where the baker lives also shape a household\u2019s dish.<\/p>\n

The festival that continues in Prague, Oklahoma<\/h2>\n

In Prague, Oklahoma, in the United States, kolache even became the name of a festival that passes on Czech heritage. According to the organizers, the first festival was held in 1951 in preparation for the town\u2019s 50th anniversary in 1952, the following year. After a hiatus, it resumed in 1965 and continues today with folk costumes, dancing and a competition judging home baking.<\/p>\n

The recipe shared at the festival includes a coconut filling in addition to prune, apricot, poppy seed and cottage cheese. The rims are brushed with butter rather than beaten egg, and either posypka, a crumb mixture of flour, butter and sugar, is scattered over before baking, or a thin glaze is applied once they have cooled. These kol\u00e1\u010de carry on the fillings of the homeland while adding the ingredients and finishes chosen by families in their new home.<\/p>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

\u30fbFarmer\u2019s cheese<\/strong>: A name for fresh cheese made by curdling milk and removing the moisture.<\/p>

\u30fbHeinz Dieter Pohl<\/strong>: An Austrian linguist who studied language contact through the names of foods.\n\u30fbKlobasnek: A bread made in Texas in which sausage or other fillings are wrapped in bread dough. It is sometimes called kolache.\n\u30fbTvaroh: A tangy fresh-cheese-type dairy product used in Central Europe.\n\u30fbPovidla: A dense fruit paste made by cooking plums or other fruit down until thick.\n\u30fbVala\u0161sk\u00fd frg\u00e1l: A large, round yeasted pastry handed down in the Wallachia region of Czechia.\n\u30fbPosypka: A mixture of flour, butter, sugar and other ingredients rubbed into crumbs and scattered over before baking.\n\u30fbPrague: A town in Oklahoma, United States. It holds a kolache festival that passes on the culture of Czech immigrants.<\/p>

References<\/h2>\n

  1. \u30fb\u201cOur Family Is a United Nations Family\u201d: \u201cMaking Kol\u00e1\u010de for the First Time!\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Making them at home in 2009, the small pastries served at a wedding, and an individual experience of being unable to obtain ground poppy seeds where the family lived in the United States.<\/p><\/li>

  2. \u30fbCzech Television \u201cPou\u0165ov\u00e9 kol\u00e1\u010de\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Rising and shaping by pressing out the center, the three fillings, lemon and nutmeg.\n\u30fbVisit Czechia \u201cSweet Delicacies of Czech Cuisine\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Weddings and church celebrations, the three fillings, regional sizes and decorations, frg\u00e1l.\n\u30fbPrague Kolache Festival \u201cFestival History\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The 1951 festival and the town\u2019s 50th anniversary, the hiatus and 1965 revival, folk costumes, dancing and the baking competition.\n\u30fbPrague Kolache Festival \u201cKolache Recipe\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Lemon and nutmeg; fruit, cheese, poppy seed and coconut; buttered rims; posypka and glaze after cooling.<\/p><\/li>

  3. \u30fbDoma\u017elice Town Cultural Center \u201cChodsk\u00e9 kol\u00e1\u010de\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Arrangement of the three fillings in the Chodsko highlands (Post\u0159ekov\/D\u00edly) and lowlands (Doma\u017elice\/Bo\u017eice\/Mr\u00e1kov), decoration and merhov\u00e1n\u00ed.<\/p><\/li>

  4. \n

    Heinz Dieter Pohl, Deutsch-slowenische und slowenisch-deutsche Lehnbeziehungen als Spiegel der Kulturgeschichte<\/a> \u2014 The etymological relationship between kol\u00e1\u010d and kolo (wheel), and its borrowing into Austrian German. The linguist\u2019s own research on word history. Not a single history of the invention of the modern Czech form<\/p>\n<\/li>

  5. \n

    Discover Temple, The More You Dough: Our Guide to Temple\u2019s Kolaches<\/a> \u2014 Sweet kolaches and meat-filled klobasneks in Texas, and the everyday mixing of the two names. An introduction to local terminology by the city\u2019s tourism department. Does not support any claim about the first inventor of the meat-filled type<\/p>\n<\/li>

  6. \u30fbMuseum and Gallery in Prost\u011bjov \u201cHan\u00e1ck\u00e9 svatebn\u00ed stromy\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Wedding pastries of the Han\u00e1 region, decorations that differ by village, communal making and sharing with guests. A case limited to a specific region and period.<\/p><\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Kol\u00e1\u010de are round yeasted pastries topped with sweet fillings, much loved in Czechia. The rim puffs up plumply like bread, and in the center you can see poppy seeds, white cheese or a thick cooked-down plum filling. They range from small pastries to large single rounds and have been handed down as pastries associated with celebrations and pilgrimage festivals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7524,"menu_order":242,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Kol\u00e1\u010de","subtitle":"Poppy seed, cheese and plum color a round hollow","topics":"Pressing out the center and leaving the rim\uff0fCombining three classic fillings\uff0fA round pastry baked for pilgrimage festivals and weddings","country":"Czechia","show_toc":true,"ingredients":["fruit","cheese","egg","seed"],"texture":["fluffy"],"occasion":["wedding","celebration"],"method":["fermented"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[166],"class_list":["post-8471","sweetlore","type-sweetlore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sweetlore_related_products":null,"sweetlore_related_faqs":null,"sweetlore_related_voices":null,"sweetlore_related_mode":"auto","sweetlore_related_articles":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t