Do you call it a kolache? West bakery says this beloved pastry has a different name

As Czechia trains in North Texas for the World Cup, a West bakery is using the spotlight to teach visitors about a Texas-Czech tradition.

Many Texans have ordered them for breakfast, picked them up on road trips and called them kolaches their entire lives. But one North Texas bakery says a popular savory pastry has been misidentified for decades.

“It's not a pig in a blanket. It's not a sausage roll. It's not even a sausage kolache. It's klobasniki,” said Shelly Miller, owner of Village Bakery in West.

The distinction is more than semantics for a town that has spent generations preserving its Czech heritage.

While many Texans use the word kolache to describe a pastry stuffed with sausage, cheese or other savory fillings, Miller said a traditional Czech kolache is sweet and typically filled with fruit or jam.

The savory version, known as a klobasnik, has roots in Texas.

“Mr. Montgomery actually took the sausage and put it into the dough for the first time,” Miller said.

According to Village Bakery, the klobasnik was created in the West during the 1950s, blending Czech baking traditions with Texas tastes.

The town, located along Interstate 35, has long celebrated its Czech culture through events such as Westfest and its well-known bakeries.

Now, with the Czechia national football team training in North Texas during the World Cup, bakery owners hope players, fans and visitors make the trip to the West to learn more about that heritage.

“It's just showing another tradition and showing a heritage and what everything's about as far as the Czech Republic is based, the Czech team coming in,” said Brittney Ready of Village Bakery.

Inside the bakery, head baker Dusty Uptmore continues a family tradition using a closely guarded dough recipe.

“My grandma just always said, you know, be nice to your dough and your dough will be nice to you,” Uptmore said.

The process involves rolling dough, adding sausage, meat and cheese fillings, sealing the pastry and baking it until golden brown.

“Flip, and then squish your seam together,” Uptmore explained while demonstrating the technique. “The difference is in the dough,” she said.

For visitors unfamiliar with Czech Texas traditions, the bakery hopes the World Cup provides an opportunity to introduce a wider audience to both the food and the culture behind it.

“We want to take it to the next level,” Miller said.

Whether customers call it a kolache or a klobasnik, Village Bakery expects plenty of curiosity from travelers looking for a taste of Texas and Czech heritage in one bite.