Discovering a Family Recipe

 I am staying here in Nebraska for a couple of days visiting my husband's family.  I was secretly dreading it.  It is Nebraska - in July.  It's usually hotter than hell here in the summer.  And humid.  Where does the humidity come from? The corn. Seriously. But as this trip comes to an end, I realize that this flat, vast land - that is so different from the landscape that I grew up around on the east coast -  feels so much like home to me.  I only lived here for a couple of years, and yet, coming back,  I feel like I never left.  Maybe because I feel so comfortable around my husband's family.  They are all such warm, loving people and have made me feel a part of their family from the moment I met them.  But that's how these Nebraskans are.  They are incredibly kind.  I mean it.  I've lived in several different cities and states over the years and let me tell you - you won't find nicer people than those who you meet in the Midwest.  They are genuine. When you run into someone at the grocery store and they ask how you are, they REALLY want to know - it's not just a formality.  I've always said you will never meet a stranger here.  You can walk into any store and you'll strike up a conversation with someone and leave feeling like you've made a new friend.   In this "I'm too busy for you" world, it's refreshing.  So coming back "home" feels great - and I especially enjoyed one day in particular - when I started baking a family recipe with Annie, my mother-in-law, and we ended up taking a road trip down memory lane.

My husband is always raving about Kolaches.  It's a Bohemian pastry recipe that has been handed down from generation to generation on his mother's side of the family.  I thought it would be fun to get the recipe and learn how to make them so I too could make them for my family and keep the tradition going.  These amazing little fruit-filled delights were always made from scratch in my mother in law's tiny little farmhouse kitchen in Odell, Nebraska - not far from the Kansas-Nebraska border.  Annie invited me over to learn how to make them, and my niece and sister-in-law helped - since this recipe is pretty involved.  Well, we got to chit-chatting about this recipe, which I share at the bottom of this blog post, and we all decided that we needed to go visit that old little farmhouse where so many of these little pastries have been baked. A farmhouse that still stands and has remained vacant for over 60 years.
We don't know why the house was never torn down.  No one ever lived there after Annie and her family moved out when she was 16 years old.  The landowner hasn't touched it and the shell of the house still stands quietly among the corn fields.  In fact, if you drive past it, you probably would miss it since it's almost completely hidden by the massive cornstalks growing all around it.  To get to the house, we actually had to drive through some of the corn to get close enough to go inside. (and yes, Annie's husband was asking, "where the hell were you guys?? I had a half-full trashcan with corn debris!!" )

But once we got close, we were able to climb inside -  for a closer look at how this farmer,  his wife, and all 8 kids made this house, their home. 
The house stands 2 stories high. The first floor had a small kitchen and pantry, living room, a bedroom and side porch.  The second story had 3 small bedrooms.  There is no electricity connected to this house.  There were only 2 wood burning stoves, one in the kitchen for cooking, the other in the living room to heat the home during the brutal winters.  There was no insulation.  You can see the slat boards of the walls below.

 

In fact, we asked Annie about those winters and they're some of my favorite stories she tells.  She said if you put a glass of water to bed at night on your nightstand, it would be frozen by the morning.  That's how cold it got at night. (And trust me, you haven't experienced cold until you have experienced a Nebraska winter.) Annie explained how there were at least 3 kids to a bed,  two of the older girls would have a little one between them.  A pezina (down comforter) would keep them warm - along with their brick. Yes, a brick.   They would place a brick on top of the wood stove about an hour before bedtime to heat it. Then, they would wrap it in a towel and place it at the foot of the bed  under the blankets when they went to sleep. And it worked.  They were always warm - until someone had to go to the bathroom.   (yup, no electricity and no running water. The outhouse outside was their bathroom.  And boy they would hold it as long as possible before they would go outside in that cold.) You didn't go alone either, the coyotes scared the heck out of Annie and her sisters.

We asked Annie a little about life here, and we were amazed that the original stove was still there in the kitchen. Take a look.

Yup, this is the good life.   Both Annie's parents lived into their upper 80's and early 90's.  They farmed during the day, and Annie's mom would bake bread, cook, and take care of 8 children.  All meals were made by scratch, the cherry filling in this recipe came from the cherry trees that grew on the property.  All of their food came from the farm. And that's how it was. The good life. Sounds pretty awesome, huh?? Here is the recipe - enjoy and thanks Annie, for sharing.

Mom Hajek’s (Emma Evelyn Vyhnalek) Kolache Recipe

 – Makes about 4 dozen

Dissolve – ½ cup luke warm water

2 packages red star quick rise yeast

mix and add your ¼ cup of sugar

let it sit

The Dough

2 cups milk – heated until warm to touch

2 teaspoons salt

3/4 skant cup olive oil

Gooches (Gold Medal) All-Purpose Flour – 6 cups

After all is mixed, you add your yeast to the flour

Put it in luke warm water and cover with either towel or saran wrap and lay it on top to accelerate the rising process

Roll them into the size of a tennis ball or a large of ball… and put on greesed baking sheet and greese again with melted butter and let rise

Put a large dimple or crater in the center

Fill with filling and sprinkle with angel dust and pop in over at 375 and bake for 13 – 15 minutes until brown

Once out of oven, you grease outside of kolache with melted butter and cover with a tea towel and let cool

Pineapple filling or Apricots

1 heaping tablespoon cornstarch mix with water to dissolve

 1/2 cup sugar in pineapple

1/4 cup sugar in apricots

Crumb topping (angel dust)

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 stick of butter 

 Mix and set aside. This will cover the kolache when the kolache has been baked.  yum!!

 If I can do it - so can you!!