Name: Khachapuri
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 450 gm bread flour, plus extra for dusting; 7 gm dried yeast (1 sachet); 250 ml lukewarm milk (1 cup); 1 egg, lightly beaten, plus 1 extra, lightly beaten, for eggwash; 30 gm melted butter, plus 50gm extra, diced, and 4 extra slices to serve; Lemon wedges, to serve; Cheese and egg filling; 250 gm mozzarella, coarsely chopped; 200 gm firm ricotta, crumbled; 100 gm Bulgarian feta, crumbled; 2 tbsp coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley; 2 tbsp finely chopped chives, plus extra to serve; 5 eggs

Khachapuri

The cheesy stuffed bread of Georgia, with an just-set egg in the middle.

Serves 4

Prep

20M

Cook

15M

Total

35M

There’s lots to love about khachapuri. This classic Georgian flatbread has an egg cracked on top when it’s partially baked, then it’s cooked until the egg is set to your liking. It’s served topped with a sliver of butter – tear off bread from the edge to mix in the butter and dunk into the egg and cheese filling.

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Ingredients

450 gm bread flour, plus extra for dusting

7 gm dried yeast (1 sachet)

250 ml lukewarm milk (1 cup)

1 egg, lightly beaten, plus 1 extra, lightly beaten, for eggwash

30 gm melted butter, plus 50gm extra, diced, and 4 extra slices to serve

Lemon wedges, to serve

Cheese and egg filling

250 gm mozzarella, coarsely chopped

200 gm firm ricotta, crumbled

100 gm Bulgarian feta, crumbled

2 tbsp coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley

2 tbsp finely chopped chives, plus extra to serve

5 eggs

Method

Main

1.Combine flour, yeast and 1 tsp salt in a bowl, and make a well in the centre. Add milk, egg and melted butter to well, and mix to form a soft dough. Turn out onto a floured work surface and knead until smooth and elastic (4-5 minutes). Place in a lightly oiled bowl, turn to coat dough in oil, cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place until doubled in size (1-2 hours).

2.For cheese and egg filling, place cheeses, parsley, chives and 1 lightly beaten egg in a bowl, season to taste and mix well to combine.

3.Preheat oven to 250C and line an oven tray with baking paper. Divide dough into 4 equal pieces and, working with a piece at a time, roll out to a rough 15cm x 25cm oval and leave to rest for 15 minutes. Spread a quarter of the filling over each oval, leaving a 2cm border. Fold in border to form a raised edge, then pinch and twist ends to form a boat shape. Transfer to oven tray, brush edges of dough with eggwash and place in oven. Reduce heat to 180C and bake for 10 minutes, then remove from oven and make an indentation in the centre of each boat with the back of a spoon. Crack an egg into each, tuck a few cubes of butter into the filling and bake, swapping and turning trays partway through cooking, until egg sets (4-5 minutes). Top each khachapuri with a slice of butter, scatter with extra chives and serve with lemon wedges.