In Honor of West, TX

* This post is part of our April Top 5. Check out the rest here. *

Last week our nation saw a lot of tragedy. The Boston marathon bombing and the fertilizer explosion in West, TX. Both are difficult situations. While I have a friend who lives in Boston, I could relate more to the tragedy in West, TX. I lived about 60 miles from there for quite a few years. I have driven through West many times. I even stopped there a few times to get some of their wonderful food.

West is a community with a large population of Czechs. They host Westfest every year. It is a Czech & Polka festival. I never made it to Westfest, but it sounded like a lot of fun.

One Czech food I have tried and loved is kolaches. There are fruit kolaches, sausage kolaches, & cheese kolaches. My favorite are sausage kolaches. In honor of West, I've decided to learn to make kolaches. I'm going to make fruit & sausage kolaches. While the fruit ones aren't my favorite, I thought I'd make them so you could see what they are.

Kolaches Dough

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup water, heated to 110 - 115F
1 cup milk, heated to 110 - 115F
4 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
5/8 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
4 1/4 cups flour (I had to add 1/4 cup)

Add water to stand mixer bowl, sprinkle yeast over water and gently mix. Allow to stand for 5 minutes. Yeast will become foamy. Add milk, melted butter, 2 eggs, sugar and salt. Turn mixer on low and mix thoroughly. Add flour in two batches and mix until just combined. Allow dough to rest in bowl for 2 hours. The dough will be wet and sticky. After the 2 hours, place bowl of dough in refrigerator overnight or at least 4 hours.

Sausage Kolaches

Divide dough into balls. I floured my hands as I made the balls. The size will depend on if you are filling dough with sausage or fruit. Fruit filled kolaches will have balls about half the size of the sausage ones. Place the balls on a parchment lined pan. The batch will make 8 sausage kolaches Allow dough balls to rest for 15 minutes. After the dough has rested, press it out and wrap a sausage in it. Lay kolaches with the seam down. I used Hillshire Farms Cheddar Wurst. Allow the kolaches to rest for another 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 375. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and brush with butter. Cool for 10 minutes and serve.

Fruit Kolaches

Divide dough into balls. I floured my hands as I made the balls. As stated, the size depends on if you are filling dough with sausage or fruit. Fruit filled kolaches will have balls about half the size of the sausage ones. I put the balls in the dish I was baking them in. The batch will make 16 fruit kolaches. Allow balls to rest for 15 minutes. Using a spoon or your fingers press down in the middle just a little. Spoon jam into the indentation. I used my homemade strawberry jam. You can use fresh fruit, dried fruit, or any kind of jam or jelly. Allow the kolaches to rest for another 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 375. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until gold brown. Remove from oven and brush bread with butter. Cool for 10 minutes and serve.

If you would like to learn more about Westfest, this website http://www.westfest.com/ is very informative. Also you can read about how the Czech Stop helped feed the volunteers and people of West during this tragedy here.

Recipe adapted from Confections of A Foodie Bride

For a