Sausage Kolaches - Klobasnicky Recipe

Directions:

1. Beat together warm water, sugar, yeast, 1 cup warm milk and 1 3/4 cups flour thoroughly and let stand for 1 hour.
2. (I usually make the sponge in a large metal bowl, and let it sit in a barely warm oven for the hour. I preheat my oven to 170, then open the door of it to let some of the heat escape for about 3 to 5 minutes. BE SURE TO TURN YOUR OVEN OFF! I cover the bowl with a clean flour sack towel and pop it in.).
3. Add Crisco, 1/4 cup warm milk, salt, egg yolks and 2 1/4 cups flour. Beat well and let rise until double in bulk.
4. ( when I put the sponge in the barely warmed oven, I microwave the Crisco. It's really hot, so I let it stand out while the sponge is perculating. If you put the Crisco in when it is too hot, it will kill the yeast. The results are not pretty, lol. I usually use butter flavored Crisco.).
5. Then work down (stir it with a wooden spoon. It releases all the air trapped in it. The dough will be very soft, and a little sticky.).
6. Make the parts for each sausage roll. Cover the sausage and cheese with the dough you have patted out.( I use a silpat, and pat each golf ball size blob down to a rectange about 3 inches by 5 inches and about 1/4 of an inch thick.) Make sure to seal the cheese and sausage up well, and place the seam side down on the sheet pan.
7. (It's hard to put an exact measurement on this because some like to use the big sausages, and others the little smokies. I usually use about a golf ball size for the sausages that are about 4 inches long and 1/2 inch in diameter. Any more, and I have way too much breading around the sausage. This dough really grows after the 2nd rise.).
8. Beat the egg and water together to make an egg wash. Brush the egg wash over the tops of the kolaches. (This makes them a beautiful golden brown. I usually reserve the 2 egg whites that I separate from the yolks for the dough and it has worked like a charm for me.).
9. Let rise 15 minutes. (I've found that 15 minutes is plenty, because the kolaches continue to puff up in the oven. I've left them overnight, and it caused the bread to be too spongy, and they went stale very quickly.).
10. Bake at 400 degrees until golden brown, about 15 minutes.
11. Some additional notes: I've made these in a bread machine on the dough setting and just dumped everything in for the sponge and the dough. It's a lot less work, but after it is baked, the bread does not have the fine texture the it does when you do all of the steps as listed.
12. Also, underestimate the amount of dough you need to wrap around your filling. If the yeast that you have used is fresh, a little dough goes a long way!
13. Some fillings that I have tried are apple butter, bacon, egg and cheese, ham and cheese, strawberry jam with cream cheese. Anytime I use jam, I freeze the jam in one of those ice trays that make long tubes of ice for water bottles, and I brush the dough with a little melted butter before I put the jam cube on it to prevent sogginess. These are a hit with my children.