This khachapuri is a meal in itself—a luscious cheesy, eggy, buttery bath to dip the edges of the bread into. I got the original recipe from Arkadiy Petrosyan, a master acharuli breadmaker from Batumi on the Black Sea coast. He used an incredibly fresh Imeretian cheese that I found was impossible to source outside Georgia. Yotam Ottolenghi uses a mixture of ricotta, Halloumi, and feta, which works a treat, while Nigella Lawson favors feta, mozzarella, and ricotta, and Felicity Cloake in The A–Z of Eating opts for hard mozzarella and feta. I have tried it with my beloved Ogleshield, and its mild dairiness was closer to the original. If you can’t find Ogleshield, try a 2:1 ratio of Edam and cheddar instead.
Serving a big crowd? Try this large-format version instead.
In Georgia, the finished khachapuri will be served with yet more cubes of butter dropped inside the boats as soon as they come out of the oven. If you have amazing butter and you love it, go ahead. Get your cushions and duvet ready for straight after.
Recipe information
Yield
Makes 6
Ingredients
Dough
Filling
Preparation
Step 1
To make the dough, mix the yeast with the sugar, water, flour, and salt in a bowl. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and either leave in the refrigerator overnight or somewhere in your kitchen for an hour or so until doubled in size.
Step 2
For the filling, mix the cheeses with the single egg yolk and use a fork to mash well.
Step 3
Preheat the oven to its highest setting and heat a couple of baking sheets—or a pizza stone if you have one.
Step 4
Flour your work surface really well. Cover your hands in flour and scrape the dough on to your work surface. Knead it in the flour a little if it’s too sticky. Divide the dough into 6 pieces (each piece should be about 100 g (3½ oz). Roll out each piece of dough on a lightly floured work surface into a 18 cm (7-inch) round. Stretch either side of each round to elongate and then pile 100 g (3½ oz) of filling in the centre, leaving a 5 mm (¼ inch) border around the edge. Bring two sides of the dough up to meet in the middle and pinch a seam together to seal, similar to a Cornish pasty. Press down with the flat of your hand to flatten it, then flip it over so the seam is face down. With a sharp knife, make a slash along the middle of the dough and push the sides open to expose the filling. Repeat with the rest of the dough and filling to make 6 khachapuris.
Step 5
Slide the khachapuris on to the hot baking trays and bake for 10 minutes until the sides turn golden. Crack an egg into the centre of each, then bake for a further 2–3 minutes. To eat, pinch the dough from one end and use it to dip and mix the runny egg yolk into the filling.
Recipe notes
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