Khachapuri – Georgian Cheese Filled Bread is a flatbread which combines a delicious crust and salty, rich, and silky cheese filling. Irresistibly delicious!
Hello, everyone. I hope you’re doing well. And I also hope you won’t mind some awesome gooey and cheesy recipe?
While this recipe is from Georgian cuisine, I believe it is very common in many former Soviet countries. Anyway, isn’t it interesting how one similar recipe or idea can often exist in different cuisines? Bread and particularly flatbread would be a good example. Bread and cheese would be even a better example. That’s awesome. Each country should have its own recipe of cheese bread, in my book.
Of course, some of you probably didn’t hear of Khachapuri – Georgian Cheese Filled Bread, but I doubt that. It’s been a very trendy food lately, and you can often see it popping up on the Instagram feed.
What’s the Khachapuri? Basically, it’s a yeast dough crust combined with the cheese filling and baked till golden and bubbly. Many people would also call this kind of bread a “cheese boat”. While I don’t have a purpose to find the similarities and differences with other similar recipes, I would like to mention what’s special about khachapuri.
- The filling is rather salty. The authentic recipes use local hard and soft salty cheeses produced in Georgia and the adherent territories. I believe it’s impossible to find these cheeses in North America, but the combination of feta and pizza mozzarella does a job.
- Butter it up. Literally. The khachapuri requires a good portion of butter. You add it in the filling which gives that extra decadent and luscious texture. Once it’s out from the oven, you need to butter the crust. And don’t forget to place an extra piece on top of the bubbly filling. Also: you can skip the gym today.
- There could be different ways to tackle the dough base, but I opted for the crust which is stuffed along the edges. Who needs just a crust when you can also stuff it with some cheese, right?
- You also add eggs into the filling; it helps to hold it together and enhance the flavour and texture;
- A traditional Georgian Khachapuri doesn’t require an extra egg on top of the filling. It’s an Adjaruli kind of khachapuri (Adjara – the region of Georgia).
Indeed, I never tried a khachapuri topped with an egg until this year. I was a little skeptical about the result, but I decided to give it a try. After all, it looks pretty, too.
The result didn’t disappoint us! You only need to bake an egg for a couple of minutes, so it’s firm from the outside but still runny inside. Then, you take a fork, and this is where all magic happens. The egg yolks combined with the cheesy filling and butter gives an extra rich, silky, and decadent texture. It works similar to carbonara. My advice: try versions with and without an egg. And I believe the ones with an egg won’t disappoint you.
That’s enough for today, my friends. I hope this recipe intrigued you, and you will try Khachapuri – Georgian Cheese Filled Bread one day.
Cheers.
Notes
havocinthekitchen.com
Ingredients
Dough:
- 3 tbsp. olive oil + some more
- 2/3 cup milk
- 1 cup of water
- 1/4 tsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. active dry yeast
- about 3 – 3 and 1/3 cup of all-purpose flour, sifted + more for dusting
Filling:
- 600-700 gr. pizza mozzarella, grated
- 350-400 gr. feta, crumbled
- 2 eggs
- 4 tbsp butter, chopped or grated
Additionally:
- 1 egg, beaten, for greasing the dough
- 4-6 tbsp. butter, for greasing
- 1 raw egg for each pie, if you’re making Ajarian Khachapuri
Instructions
- Heat the milk and water in a small saucepan until lukewarm.
- Transfer to a bowl and stir in the sugar, salt, and yeast. Let stand until foamy, about 7 to 10 minutes.
- Sift the flour into a bowl. Make the well in the center and pour in the yeast mixture along with 3 tbsp. olive oil.
- With a spoon or spatula mix until incorporated, soft and sticky.
- Generously dust surface with flour, place the dough, and knead until smooth and elastic, 5 to 7 minutes. Shape it into a ball.
- Transfer the dough in a large bowl. Take some extra oil and cover the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic or towel and set in a warm place until doubled in size, between 1 to 1,5 hours.
- For the filling, in a bowl combine the grated mozzarella, crumbled feta, and grated / finely chopped butter. Stir in two whole eggs and mix once again.
- Divide the dough into 5-6 pieces.
- Take one piece and roll it out on the floured surface, about 1/2 cm thick; you should have an ellipse shape.
- Take roughly one tablespoon of the filling and place along one edge. Repeat from the other side.
- Roll the sides up toward the center but stop the halfway to the center.
- Pinch the edges together and twist to seal tightly.
- Fill the middle of the “boat” with 3 to 5 tbsp. of the filling (Don’t overload it).
- Alternatively, you can first place the filling, then roll it up and pinch the edges.
- Beat one egg and brush the dough and the filling.
- Bake in the preheated to 188-90 degrees C (360 F) oven for about 15-20 minutes, until golden and the filling is bubbly.
- If you are making the Adjarian Khachapuri, bake it for about 15-17 minutes, then remove from the oven, crack one egg in the middle of the pies and return to the oven for another 3-4 minutes. Don’t overbake.
- Once you’ve removed the khachapuri from the oven, grease the crust with some butter and place 1/4 tsp. of butter in the middle of the pie.
- Let stand 5-10 minutes (covered with a towel) and then serve.
- Enjoy!
Hi – I’m Ben, a blogger, recipe developer, and food photographer. I’m glad you’re here! I hope you will enjoy hundreds of delicious recipes and a pinch of havoc in the kitchen.
I have never had Khachapuri before, but OMG, does this look incredible! Seriously, where has this been my entire life?! I mean, bread, cheese and egg!?! Yea, sign me up! It’s basically like a cheesy breakfast pizza in classy form and I need this immediately! Beautiful work!
Cheyanne @ No Spoon Necessary recently posted…Cucumber Avocado Salad
Wow! This sounds incredible! It’s beautiful as well and the shape is really cool, I’ve never seen anything like it and haven’t seen it on the instagram feed, so that’s a new one for me! But I’ve got to try it now, right?? ;) YUM & Pinning!
Kim Lange recently posted…Neapolitan Marshmallow Chocolate Chip Cookies & SmashMallow S’Mores
I mean, seriously, bread AND cheese???! What the what? How good does this sound and look? It’s getting to be lunch and this is making me really hungry right about now….send me one or 3 ;) ??
Dawn – Girl Heart Food recently posted…Western Sandwich {with pop’s secret ingredient}
I love how you always introduce me to new things, Ben! Khachapuri looks spectacular! Thanks for the great visual instructions on how to shape it too…
Marissa recently posted…Carne Asada Burrito Recipe
I see you tackled a yeasted bread, Ben…and you nailed it! Seriously. This looks amazing. I’ve never heard of Khachapuri until now, but it’s totally on my radar. It’s basically a cheese pizza in a different form. I’m intrigued about the various Georgian cheeses here, but I understand that you can’t find those here in North America. Either way, this is one amazing looking recipe, my friend! P.S. I’ll be waiting by the mailbox for my delivery of one of these today. Thanks!
David @ Spiced recently posted…Spinach Artichoke Grilled Cheese