While I was in Georgia, I took cooking lessons with Irina at Chakandrila in Tbilisi. Before visiting Georgia, I had enjoyed some of the food. Luckily, we have some great Georgian restaurants in London, and I also found Georgian cuisine in Kazakhstan. This is a recipe for khachapuri, a delicious bread that is baked with different fillings. In fact, this particular type with cheese and egg is called Adjaruli. There are many varieties with other fillings including cheese, mushrooms, meat and/or spinach. They also come in different shapes, and this usually corresponds to the filling.
Although the dough needs to be made in advance, the remaining steps are fairly simple. The secret for the best egg consistency is just to use the yolk, not the egg white.
Ingredients
Dough
250g wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
8g dried yeast about 2 tsp
20 ml vegetable oil
50 g soft butter
1 whole egg
100ml Greek yoghurt
Filling
200g each of grated Georgian cow cheeses, Imeruli and sulguni
Or substitute with a mix of mozzarella, feta and a pinch of salt
1 whole egg
4 egg yolks
1 tsp milk
4 pats of butter
Instructions
Dough
In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt, sugar, yeast, oil, and butter with hands. Mix until the dough has an even consistency. Then mix in the egg and yoghurt. Cover and put in fridge for at least 2 hours or leave for up to 3 days.
Making Khachapuri
First, divide the dough into 4 pieces. Then roll one piece into a rectangular shape. Put a line of cheese along each long edge. Then fold the dough over towards the center with the cheese inside to make a kind of cheese-filled crust. Roll again until both rolls reach the centre. Next, pinch and close corners. Stretch but do not unroll the dough until you have a round space in the middle of the crusts. The ends should be kind of pointy.
In a small bowl, make an egg wash with teh whole egg and milk. Brush Egg wash around all the edges of the dough. Then add some cheese mix into the middle.
Bake for 8-10 minutes. Carefully place one egg yolk in the middle of the cheese. Then cook for 2 more minutes. Finally, top with a pat of butter. Serve hot. The person eating the khachapuri should mix the egg yolk into the cheese mixture before eating.
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