Potato Flakes Kolaches

If you've been wondering what happens when you put potato flakes in your kolache dough, here's the answer! I made some Potato Flakes Kolaches and have some thoughts.

Potato Flakes Kolaches

This might be my favorite kolache recipe yet. Or maybe it's a tie with the Sour Cream Kolache. The sour cream version has a little bit of extra flavor, while the potato dough has a more doughnut-like texture and rose a tiny bit higher. I followed the same procedure for this recipe as I did all the others, which is to mix the dry ingredients with the instant yeast, add 130 degree water, then add remaining flour until dough is soft and sticky.

Potato Flour In Place of Potato Flakes

I recently bought a bag of potato flour (different from potato starch) to use in some gluten-free recipes. Since I had so much of it, I tried using a little potato flour in place of the potato flakes. It worked! If you'd like to use potato flour in place of potato flakes, use ¼ cup of potato flour in place of ¼ of the bread flour. For instance, instead of starting with 2 cups of bread flour, start with 1 ¾ cups bread flour and ¼ cup potato flour. Omit the potato flakes. When you are kneading the dough and adding more flour, use bread flour as the recipe directs.

Stand Mixer

I honestly don't know what I'd do without my stand mixer and dough hook attachment, because up until the time I started using a dough hook I could never get the dough quite elastic end stretchy enough. The hook takes a slightly sticky dough and magically transforms it, whereas when doing it by hand, I'd get frustrated with the sticky feeling and use more flour thus creating a dryer dough. So if you're looking for an excuse to buy or just pull out the stand mixer, it's the dough hook. It's possible the dough hook will change your bread baking life.

Finally, here's the recipe! ( I also added more ingredient notes).

Ingredients and Notes on Kolaches

• Bread Flour -- You can use bread flour or all-purpose. My new favorite thing is to omit the potato flakes, replace ¼ cup of the bread flour with potato flour and add a few tablespoons more bread flour to the total amount.
• Unsalted Butter, Salted Butter or I Can't Believe It's Not Butter -- At one point I suspected margarine might be the secret ingredient to soft kolaches. Maybe or maybe not, but when I use I Can't Believe It's Not Butter (the stick form), the kolaches bake up fluffier, softer and with a thin, soft, peelable crust like the Czech grandma's in Texas make. So I guess I Can't Believe It's Not Butter is my other secret ingredient for Kolaches. The jury is still out.
• Salt -- 1 teaspoon Morton kosher. I keep the amount the same whether or not I'm using salted butter or margarine.
• Sugar -- These are not too sweet, but we find them sweet enough -- especially with cream cheese and preserves.
• Yeast -- My kolaches are the fluffiest when I use Platinum yeast.
• Egg -- Bring it to room temperature before using. I usually just let the egg sit in some warm water before cracking it.
• Potato Flakes -- Use 3 tablespoons or leave them out and use ¼ cup of potato flour (not potato starch) in place of ¼ cup of the all-purpose.
• Melted Butter for Brushing -- I Can't Believe It's Not Butter can be used for brushing. Or use real butter. It's up to you.
• Filling --I always use the cream cheese filling in the notes. It's made with 8 oz softened cream cheese, ¼ cup sugar, 1 egg yolk and a dash of both vanilla and lemon zest.
• Potica (the crumbs on kolaches) -- Again, recipe in the notes. It's super basic and you don't use very much, so I keep it simple with ⅓ cup sugar, 2 ½ tablespoons flour, 4 teaspoons melted butter (or ICBINB) and a pinch of cinnamon.

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Recipe

Potato Flakes Kolaches

Anna

Soft dough kolaches made with potato flakes and filled with cream cheese filling.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 3 hours hrs

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 3 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Servings 10

Ingredients

 

• ¾ cup whole milk
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into small chunks
• 2 ⅓ to 2 ⅔ cup bread flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt or table salt
• ¼ cup granulated sugar (50 grams)
• 2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast (Platinum works well)
• 1 large egg
• 3 tablespoons Hungry Jack potato flakes (or any brand)
• Melted Butter for brushing
• See Filling and Crumb recipes in notes

Instructions

 

• Put the milk and butter in a large saucepan or 2 cup Pyrex type microwave-safe measuring cup and heat until it just begins to boil. Remove from heat (or microwave) stick a thermometer in it. Let cool to 130 degrees.
• Meanwhile, combine only 2 cups (280 grams) of the flour, salt, sugar, yeast and potato flakes in a mixing bowl – preferably a stand mixer bowl so you can use the dough hook. Add the milk mixture and stir until blended, then add the egg and stir until well blended.
• Add another ⅓ cup of bread flour – dough should still be a little sticky, but not wet. Start kneading with the dough hook. If a lot of the dough still sticks to the sides of the bowl as you start to knead, continue adding flour a few tablespoons at a time. If you weighed your flour, you will probably use the entire 2 ⅔ cup (12 oz) of flour. If you are a heavy handed scooper who doesn’t weigh, you may need only the 2 ⅓ cup. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic. It should be easy to handle at this point. With the potato flour, it might be slightly softer and a bit stickier, but once it's slicked with oil and risen, it should still be easy to handle.
• Transfer to a greased bowl and let it pick up some of the butter/oil from the bowl, then flip it so you have a nice, greasy, ball. Cover and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.
• Punch down! Pull off large chunks (12 total), smooth them into balls and arrange them a little over an 1 inch apart in two 9x13 pans that you’ve lined with parchment. You can also use baking sheets, but I find pans easier to cover. Brush generously with more melted butter and cover pan with plastic wrap. Let rise for one hour.
• Make indentations in the buns and fill with cheese mixture or fruit pie filling. Sprinkle with crumb mixture.
• Bake at 375 degrees F for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Note: Lately mine have been taking slightly longer -- up to 18 minutes.

Notes

For fillings, use canned fruit pie fillings or make your own. For cheese filling, beat together 8 oz cream cheese and¼ cup granulated sugar. Add an egg yolk and half teaspoon of vanilla plus a little lemon zest if desired.
For crumb mixture, combine ⅓ cup sugar with 2 ½ tablespoons of flour and ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon. Stir in 4 teaspoons of melted butter until crumbly.
Makes 10 to 12

Keyword kolaches, Potato Flakes

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