Texas breakfast favorite, kolache, has fascinating backstory involving Czech immigration

In parts of Texas, a common on-the-go breakfast is a kolache. It's a savory pastry that typically contains meat and cheese. 

But the story of kolaches is far more interesting than one might expect for a breakfast item. 

It's a tale that weaves together immigration, clever business sense and a good-sized dose of Americana. 

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True Texas delicacy

In the early 19th century, the first Czechs made their way to Texas, according to the website for the Texas State Historical Association. By the Civil War, there were 700 Czechs living in Texas, and Czech immigration to Texas rapidly increased at the turn of the 20th century.

By 1910, there were 15,074 "foreign-born Czechs" in Texas, the Texas State Historical Association said. 

Traditional Czech kolaches, such as the one shown at far right, are filled with fruit — while the kolaches served in Texas today, above and left, contain meat. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

Among the numerous things those Czech immigrants brought with them to Texas was their traditional pastries, including kolaches. 

In their original form, kolaches are a Czech pastry typically filled with fruit. They're "almost like a thumbprint cookie but on a larger scale," a Shipley Do-Nuts representative told Fox News Digital in a phone interview. 

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Kolaches account for a third of the sales at the Texas-based chain, Ashley Lennington said. She works for a Dallas-based public relations agency that represents Shipley Do-Nuts.

"Kolaches are one of the top breakfast foods here in Texas – and at Shipley. And we wanted to give our customers more protein-filled, savory breakfast options beyond our legendary doughnuts," Kaitlyn Venable, executive chef at Shipley Do-Nuts, told Fox News Digital. 

But the kolaches that are sold, eaten and beloved in Texas are savory and not sweet. Typically, there's no fruit to be found. 

Kolaches account for a third of sales at Shipley Do-Nuts, a spokesperson told Fox News Digital. The kolaches sold at Shipley Do-Nuts are the savory variety.  (Shipley Do-Nuts)

And rather than a large thumbprint cookie, the kolaches in Texas look more like enclosed buns. 

Technically, the Texas kolaches are a Czech-American pastry known as a klobásník, but kolache is still the word more commonly used for them.

"Being in Texas, we're meat-heavy down here," Lennington said. 

Technically, the Texas kolaches are a Czech-American pastry known as a klobásník.

There's also a slight pronunciation difference. In Texas, kolache is pronounced "ko-lah-chee," whereas in Czech, it's "more like ko-lahsh," Lennington said. 

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The Texas kolaches "started with a kielbasa sausage in a yeast roll," Lennington said. 

People seemed to enjoy the dish, "and it just kind of expanded from that." 

Shipley Do-Nuts began selling kolaches in 1995, Lennington said, as a savory breakfast (or lunch or snack) alternative to its doughnuts. 

This kolache at Shipley Do-Nuts contains ham, sausage and jalapeños.  (Shipley Do-Nuts)

"They saw all the other Houston-based doughnut brands and other breakfast places [selling] savory kolache options, so they started selling them," Lennington said. 

Shipley Do-Nuts recently added egg-stuffed kolaches to its menu, Venable noted, and there are plans for even more. 

"Our three new egg and cheese varieties that launched in early July have quickly become bestsellers and have set single-day sales records week after week," she said. "Seeing this success, I'm already in the kitchen developing more new kolaches to bring to our menu." 

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While kolaches are commonplace throughout Texas, the Kolache Factory, a Katy, Texas-based chain, has locations in nine states and ships its products throughout the United States. 

Kolache Factory, founded in 1982, has a menu featuring both the traditional sweet fruit kolaches and the savory meat-filled Texas kolaches. 

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"Kolaches are self-contained and neat to eat," the Kolache Factory website said. 

"They can be conveniently consumed anywhere, from the car, to group or business meetings, to the baseball field." 

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Kolaches, it said, "are the ideal choice for a nutritious, 'on-the-go' meal."