Celebrate the Texas Kolache Trail!
It’s not just a collection of stops. It’s a lifetime of fond memories of all the years driving across the state. Reunions, holiday drives, and college move-ins always included a stop at that one little bakery, for that one favorite item. It’s smiling faces at unassuming stores, flavors that remind you of all those years ago. It’s the dogged pursuit of the best kolache in the state. It’s part of the Texas experience.
With so many Czech settlers in this area, it was inevitable that outstanding Kolache bakeries would dot the landscape of our great state. All have their own history, and their own recipes. But together they create a tradition that we all treasure and enjoy.
So spend some time on our site. Check out the map of bakeries we know - check off the ones you’ve visited, and plan to visit the rest.
Be sure to visit the store and purchase some fabulous swag previously only available to bigshots and insiders. Just click on the “Shop” link in the menu at the top of this page and you’ll be knocking out your gift list in no time.
And drop us a line if you feel so inclined. (Use the “Contact” link up above!) We’d love to hear about your favorites, too.
Have fun on the trail!
Following the Kolache Trail…
Hop in the car right away and get to the nearest number on this map. All these bakeries have been taste-tested and approved by our own personal taste buds, so we guarantee a delicious, authentic kolache.
We’re adding stops onto the list as fast as we can get to them. Have a can’t-miss location in mind? Drop us a line and we’ll check it out!
1 Original Kountry Bakery, Schulenburg
2 Weikel’s Bakery, La Grange
3 Gerick’s Old Czech Bakery, West
4 Hruska’s Bakery, Ellinger
5 The Czech Stop, West
6 Slovacek’s Bakery, West
7 Chappell Hill Bakery, Chappell Hill
8 Kolache Depot, Ennis
9 The Original Kolache Shoppe, Houston
10 Hill Country Donuts and Kolaches, Fredericksburg
The Great Klobásník Controversy
Many kolache bakeries use kolache-style dough and processes to make something called a klobasnek, which is sort of like a pig-in-a-blanket: a sausage wrapped in pastry dough and baked. (The spelling varies.) In Czech, the plural is klobásníky, though many people locally call them klobasneks. Though the name might be different, they are authentic Czech food and an important part of our heritage.
Throughout Texas, many people call these “sausage kolaches”, including many of the fine bakeries we love. Purists, however, bristle at use of the word kolache to describe them, and instead use only what they insist is the more correct term. Whatever you call them, they are an important part of “kolache culture”, and purists though we are, we love them too.
As the popularity of the pastry has grown over the years, bakeries have expanded offerings to include Ham and Cheese Kolaches, or Egg and Bacon Kolaches. We’ve seen Omelette Kolaches and Cheese Steak Kolaches. Now, that’s just crazy talk.
