"Stuffed" Rolls (Homemade Kolaches)

Up until this past weekend, I had never eaten nor even heard of a kolache. When my son and daughter-in-law came from Ohio for Thanksgiving, they stopped in Indianapolis at the Kolache Factory and purchased a dozen different kolaches for us to try on Thanksgiving morning. I fell in love with them immediately and knew that I'd have to try to recreate this delicious little stuffed sandwich in my own kitchen.

In every aspect, these homemade kolaches were crafted from leftovers. I used Frieda's dinner roll recipe for my Thanksgiving dinner rolls and had leftover dough balls in the freezer. The roast beef and caramelized onions were from a French dip pizza I served during the game on Saturday, and the stuffing, gravy and turkey were of course leftover from Thanksgiving.

This is not an actual recipe but more of a method, and by knowing the method, you'll be able to use whatever stuffing combination you'd like to make your own kolaches.

I made two different types this morning. Stuffing, turkey and gravy kolaches, and roast beef, caramelized onion and gruyere cheese kolaches. Imagine ones stuffed with sausage gravy or scrambled eggs, bacon and cheese. YUM!

It is important to note that your stuffing materials should be mixed well and at room temperature before stuffing the dough. Here you'll see my two different stuffing combinations.


Using your favorite bread dough recipe, make dough and let dough go through its first rise. Punch dough down, then portion dough into 2 1/2-3 ounce portions. (This is a little bigger than a golf ball.)

Using rolling pin, flatten each dough ball into about a 5" round.

Place a heaping tablespoon of filling mixture in the middle of each round.

Bring edges of dough together and pinch to seal.

Place prepared rolls, seam side down, on a baking sheet lined with a Silpat or parchment paper. Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise until nicely puffed, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place rolls in oven and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until nicely browned. Remove from oven and transfer to cooling rack. Brush with melted butter. Serve warm.

Once kolaches have cooled, they can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated. To reheat, remove from plastic and wrap in a paper towel. Microwave for 30-45 seconds.

I have not tried freezing these, but I imagine that they would freeze nicely. Once frozen, remove from freezer as needed and let thaw (wrapped) before microwaving.