After trying Georgian cuisine when I visited recently, I swore to myself that I would try to recreate the experience from home if I could because I enjoyed it so much! Khachapuri (the bread filled with cheese that looks like a boat) was the first on my list and I finally got around to making it. I’m delighted with how it turned out so please let me know if you give it a go. There are so many articles about the rich Georgian cuisine that you should look up if interested. Khachapuri is a traditional Georgian dish of cheese-filled bread. It’s usually made with cheese in the middle and a crust which is ripped off and used to dip in the cheese. 🤤
Ingredients:
For the khachapuri dough:
- Self-raising flour, 250 g
- 155 mL lukewarm water
- Dry yeast, 4 g
- Salt, 1 tbsp
- Sugar, 1 tbsp
- Olive oil, 9 g
For the mix within the khachapuri:
- Feta cheese, 1 cup
- Mozzarella cheese, 1 cup
- Red cheddar cheese, 1 cup
- Egg, 1 (two additional eggs for later)
For the salad:
- Cucumber, 1, large
- Salad tomatoes, 5
- Lime, 1, to be squeezed for juice
- Walnuts, 1/2 cup
- Fresh parsley, 2 tbsp
- Fresh coriander, 2 tbsp
- Red onion, 1, large
- Olive oil, 1/4 cup
Method (find recipe reel here):
- Begin by making the khachapuri dough. I first attached the balloon whisk to my Kenwood kMix electric mixer, and added the yeast and water to the mixing bowl first. Mix the wet mixture until the yeast is well mixed into the solution. I then added the oil, salt and sugar and mixed again well.
- Next, add the dough hook and begin at the slowest setting. Add a quarter of the flour, mix for a minute, take the bowl out and use a spatula to clear any flour stuck to the mixing bowl. Repeat this process four times. When all of the flour is added to the bowl and scraped off the sides, keep the dough hook running slowly for a further 5 minutes.
- Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius.
- Roll the dough out onto a sterilized countertop sprinkled with some extra flour. Roll the dough into a ball and place it back into the mixing bowl. Cover with cling film and leave to rise for an hour minimum.
- Tip an egg into a mixing jug, followed by the 3 cheeses and mix very well.
- Place the dough onto a counter and cut, down the middle, into 2 separate pieces (this makes 2 khachapuri pieces.
- As done in my recipe reel, knead the dough into rectangles (placing them on some baking paper will make this easier. Add 2 heaped tbsps of cheese on each side of the rectangle and fold the sides toward and eventually covering the cheese. Twist both ends of the rectangle into a boat shape and cut off any excess dough at the ends. Push the sides out to make space, and fill both centres with the remainder of the cheese.
- Place the 2 khachapuri pieces, and the baking paper they’re on, onto a tray and bake for 15 mins.
- After this time, dig up a well in the cheese and pour a yoke into the well (be careful not to break it). Bake for a further 5 minutes.
- The salad is very easy to make. Simply chop up all ingredients and mix them together well in a salad bowl. Spritz the lime juice and oil on top of the other ingredients and mix again.
- Ready to serve, enjoy the Georgian experience!
The Food Anatomist 