Bobalki: A Traditional Slovak Recipe
The winter holidays are my favorite time of the year. These days, Christmas is not complete without traditional Slovak breads, kolache and bobalki. Bobalki are sweet bread balls that are steamed and tossed with honey and poppy seeds. Check out my family’s recipe!
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Story Time
As a child, I loved Christmas because I loved receiving stuff (still do, if I’m being honest). But as an adult, I love spending time with family and eating good food I can only get at the holidays. One such item is bobalki.
Since becoming a part of my husband’s family many, many moons ago, I have been introduced to many Slovak Christmas traditions. Their kolache recipe is always insanely popular on the blog. Since that recipe has been such a hit, I figured I should share the bobalki recipe too!
Bobalki Breakdown
Our family’s kolache and bobalki pro makes a massive amount of dough at Christmas. Some becomes kolache for Christmas, some kolache gets frozen for Easter, and some becomes bobalki. You need just one loaf equivalent of kolache dough for this recipe.
Once baked, the bobalki balls are steamed in the microwave and then tossed with poppy seeds and warm honey. They’re simple little bread balls, but an essential part of our traditional Christmas Eve dinner.
Top Tips for Yeast Breads
- Make sure your liquid is between 100℉- 115℉ before you add your yeast.
- Knead the dough until it passes the window pane test. You should be able to gently stretch a small bit of dough until you can see light through it.
- Is your house cold? Preheat your oven to its lowest setting while you prep the dough, then turn it off. Let your dough rise (covered) in the warm oven.
The Grind
My uncle uses this giant metal grinder for this recipe. First he grinds the walnuts for kolache which gums up the gears a bit, then he can grind the poppy seeds. A food processor doesn’t really cut it here, but a spice or coffee grinder does.
If you don’t want to grind your poppy seeds, you absolutely don’t have to though. Most of the time, the poppy seeds you’ll find are fine enough for bobalki.
Related Video: My Family’s Recipe for Kolache
Family Traditions
When I first published the kolache recipe years ago, I did not expect it to be popular. According to my research, it was not a topic that was set to do well with Google. But I wanted to post the recipe because it means so much to me and my family.
I was blown away by the response. So, so many people have commented on my blog post or YouTube video, and emailed me about their family’s own take on kolache. It’s been amazing to connect with so many people. If your family also makes bobalki, let me know!
Enjoy!
Bobalki is an essential part of Christmas Eve for my family. I hope this recipe brings you and your family a sense of tradition, just like it does to ours. These soft, sweet bread balls coated in sticky honey and poppy seeds are such a treat during the holidays!
Bobalki
Ingredients
- 1/2 kolache recipe 1 loaf equivalent
- ½ - ¾ cup warm honey
- ¼ cup ground poppy seeds
Instructions
- Roll a loaf of the kolache dough out into a log, about 1 inch thick. It’s fine to do this in batches. Cut the log into chunks, about 1 inch in size or 15g. Roll these into small ½ tablespoon sized balls and place on a parchment lined cookie tray. Cover loosely with cling wrap.
- Preheat the oven to 375℉ and allow the balls to rise for about 20 minutes. Bake for 12 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack.
- Once the dough balls are cool, place them in a gallon sized ziploc bag and sprinkle with a spoonful of very warm water. Seal the bag and microwave for 10- 15 seconds, or until the balls are warm and slightly moist.
- Add the ground poppy seeds to the bag, seal, and shake to evenly distribute the seeds. If necessary, add more poppy seeds to taste.
- Add the warm honey to the bag, seal, and use your hands to evenly coat the dough balls and poppy seeds with the honey.
- Pour the bobalki into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 20 seconds, or until warm.
Notes
- If you can’t find ground poppy seeds or yours are not fine enough, use a coffee or spice grinder.
- Makes about 20 - 25 bobalki balls.
- Use half of the kolache dough recipe. The equivalent of one loaf of kolache.
My Favorite Products For This Recipe
Colleen
Hi there! I’m Colleen, a novice baker with a passion for learning and improving my bakes… and blunders. On Bakes and Blunders, you can find all sorts of tasty recipes that range in difficulty, but most importantly, I’ll try to explain the reason behind important steps. If you know why a recipe works, you can tweak and adapt it to suit your unique tastes, and you’ll be able to reliably produce some very delicious treats. If you love baking and want to expand and grow your skills, or if you are a casual baker and just need some pointers, my blog is right up your alley! Join me on my baking journey and we’ll learn how to make more impressive recipes together.
4 Comments
Shelby
My grandmother made these all the time. The ONLY difference is she baked the 1 inch balls. Then she would place them into a pot of water that HAD to be at a rolling boil for 5 minutes. She would take them out of the water then pour honey poppy seed over them. She would always have a large bowl of them sitting in the middle of the table. She thought they would last us all day, but instead they were all gone in less then an hour. She would have to make more
Colleen
Sounds super similar 😀 We just steam them in the microwave instead.
Kimble
Loved your info. My aunt made poppyseed kolache until the grinder broke at the place where she had the poppyseeds ground.
I attempted to duplicate the babalky my grandma made. It was fair. She made balls of bread, lightly wet with milk. I used sourdough. I believe they were dipped in boiling water. She baked them, then covered them with honey and poppyseeds. Maybe she used the baked kolache dough, but I did not know. Also, she may have dipped them in boiling water after they were baked. Using your recipe as a guide that seems more likely. I was very young at the time. They were stacked in a pyramid before pouring on the honey.
It is fun finding the spelling and names of old family recipes. Recipes, unheard of outside the family, are online. It is like finding buried treasure. Thanks.
Colleen
I absolutely love hearing about every family’s variation on these recipes!! When I first published the kolache recipe years ago, I didn’t think anyone would know what it was, but I wanted to publish it for me and my family. I’ve been blown away with the response to it! Even though bobalki and kolache go hand in hand in my mind, not nearly as many people seem to be familiar with it. I absolutely love how your family stacks the bobalki and then pours on the honey. Gorgeous presentation <3