Braided Rolls – Housky

Ingredients:

Makes: 8
Prep: 20 minutes
Knead: 5 – 10 minutes
Rise: 30 minutes
Hands On: 20 minutes
Second Rise: 45 minutes
Bake 390F (200C)15 minutes
Total: 2 hours 20 minutes

1 1/2 cups (360 ml) milk
1/2 tsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
3 3/4 cups (570 g) all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp (42 g) unsalted butter (at room temperature)

Toppings of your choice
Poppy-seeds
Caraway Seeds
Caraway Seeds and coarse salt mix (50/50)
Coarse Salt
Sesame Seeds

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15 comments
  1. Hi Krystina! Thanks for the recipe and I can’t wait to try it. Everything we cooked from the cookbook or your site worked out great! Can I just ask where do you source all purpose flour in Czech Republic? I know they have normally two types of flower, but not all purpose. I am just asking because I would like to make kolace or babovka while visiting in Czech, but I don’t know where to get all purpose flour. Thank you very much in advance!

    1. Hi Lidia, I am happy to hear you enjoy my recipes. In CZ we don’t have flour called all purpose but it is named Hladká mouka. It is equivalent of all purpose. Wishing you the best of success!

      1. Ok, I see:) I remember seeing hladka mouka in Tesco back there. Thank you and have a great day!

  2. They look amazing! One question though – should I use Wondra flour when making these?

    1. No, in my recipe I use all purpose flour. No need for Wondra.

  3. Instead of water, could you coat with an egg wash to make them look shiny? They look amazing! Thank you so much for what you do for the Czech communities all over!

    1. Thank you Jeanette for your kind words. ☺️ Egg wash is usually done on pastries. I wouldn’t recommend it for breads.

  4. These turned out amazing! Thank you. Where can I get the full recipe with the instructions. I followed the recipe on U tube but would like written instructions. Thank you

    1. On my website I don’t have written instructions. I only have them in my hardcover cookbooks. This recipe will be in my next cookbook Volume 2.

  5. I make houska more of a sweet bread braided with raisins and sliced almonds. My mom made it as did her father who hcame from Czech and had a bakery in Chicago.
    Kristine Wehrheim

    1. Yes you are talking about Christmas bread – Vánočka. This used to be called Houska long time ago. These days houska is salted braided bread. When you go visit the Czech Republic that is what you will get. 😉

      1. I have been craving those salty poppyseed rolls we used to get when I was little. My Mom didn’t bake these then, but we bought them at the Bohemian bakery in our Cleveland, Ohio neighborhood. My sister just sent me a recipe which I made and I’m in heaven reliving the taste of my childhood. Now, I see this recipe online and wonder if the steam in the oven will help my rolls become more ‘chewy’ as I recall them being. I liken the texture to bagels –the density, I guess, is what I remember. I’ve copied this and will make them again when we finish the rolls I”ve just made. I also love your clarification of the terminology. My Mom – perhaps adapting her names for her bakery – included Hoska (sweet) at Christmas, but called it Boknik at Easter. You called that Vanocky? These rolls I now recall were called Housky . The sweet bakery with apricot, nut, etc. , she called Drobni (our spelling to what we “called” them in our family), but I see in today’s recipes those are called Kolachkies. Mom made Kolachkes (sp?) donut sized and indented with a dab of apricot or lekvar. Those really were the same dough as the Boknik. My sister and I often laugh at our ‘names’ for the bakery we ate, now thinking my Mom just had her own pet names. What is Drobni??? Maybe my Mom made that up?

        1. You can definitely try the steam. You can also try my other bread recipe – Bread Rolls. 🙂 Those would be little more dense. I think she means Bochník for Easter. We call it Mazanec. Vanocka is only for Christmas. The dough for Easter is very similar. Maybe your mom meant Drobný like something small. 🙂

  6. Hello! I have been looking for a recipe for houska like what you are describing. My great aunt was czech and lived in Cicero and used to make houska with yellow raisins for us when we would come visit. I have not been able to find a recipe similar and have been searching for years. I miss it terribly! Do you have any resources or would you be willing to possibly share your recipe?

    1. Hi Jennifer, this is what you are looking for. It is now called Vánočka. It used to be called Houska long time ago. https://www.czechcookbook.com/christmas-bread-vanocka/

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