Fast Times: Kolache Factory Ranchero and Sausage, Egg, & Cheese Kolaches

The comments you guys left for me in my recent article on my hunt for a great kolache really inspired me to start a dedicated search. I took all of your suggestions, created a list, and hung it up on my office bulletin board, so when the mood struck I could head out the door and attack them, one-by-one. So when I jumped in the car to take my husband to work, camera in hand, I was pretty disappointed to discover that the one thing I hadn't remembered was the actual list of suggestions. Still, I was dying for a kolache, so I stopped at the first place I saw--the Kolache Factory on Memorial, near Memorial Park.

Since I was practically in pajamas, I ran in, scanned the menu quickly and chose two kolaches ($5) at random: the sausage, egg and cheese and the "Ranchero," consisting of ham, egg, cheese, and jalapeno. Let's talk about what went right and what went wrong, so you guys can get to telling me why I'm wrong...

Let's tackle what went wrong first. The sausage, egg, and cheese kolache was not my favorite, but only because I'm not a big breakfast sausage fan. I like all other forms of sausage (*enter your own joke here*), but breakfast sausage is at the absolute bottom of the rung. If you like breakfast sausage, I suspect you won't find anything wrong with this version. Now if there were a reindeer sausage kolache, I'd be in heaven.

So now let's talk about what went right -- and "everything else" falls in that category. The dough on these kolaches falls smack in the middle of the somewhat-too-sweet dough on my Christy's kolache and the not-quite-sweet-enough dough from Shipley's. Kolache Factory dough is sweet, but finishes with a fresh-baked, yeasty bread note that I really enjoyed; it grounds the more intense flavors of the filling.

The Ranchero Kolache is for-serious awesome, and I'm considering this discovery a big win for me. The egg is fluffy and moist, the ham is salty and plentiful, and there is a ton of melted cheese keeping all of the innards together. The pickled jalapenos add a big dose of heat and a little bit of sourness that I found addicting. On one hand I was disappointed I hadn't gotten two of the Ranchero Kolaches, but on the other I was relieved because that is just a lot of extra cardio for me. This is absolutely, positively an addition to my go-to, on-the-go breakfast list.