If you are not sure what you want to make for breakfast, give Kachapuri a go! This Georgian Cheese filled bread is really simple and straight forward to make.
Khachapuri comes from two words combined from the Georgian Language. "Khacha" referring to cheese curds, and "puri", meaning bread. It always fascinates me how much you learn about the world through food. When I was trying to work out how to make this delicious yeast raised bread, I did some diggings and research and realised how little I know about the Country Georgia! So, needless to say, from trying to accumulate information on how to make this bread took me hours in to a completely opposite direction as I unintentionally got engaged upon images of Georgia, the other type of food that they eat, I even you-tubed what the Georgian language actually sounds like! I seriously need to get out more because I have just come to realisation on how little I know!
So, here are the things I learnt! Georgia is located at the crossroad between Eastern Europe and Western Asia, being the Middle East. Because of the intersections, Georgian's cuisine are diverse with the influence of Mediterranean and Arabic as well as with European ingredients. So if you search through Georgian cuisine online, you see range of foods from cheese and doughy dumplings (European) to spices meat skewers, yogurt and pomegranate (middle eastern).
Another thing that I learnt is that Khachapuri are very traditionally shaped to look like a boat with a soft egg centre. The whole idea is that you are able to break a piece of bread from the sides and dip in to the runny egg. Super simple and supremely cheesy!
RECIPE
This recipe makes 4 x Khachapuris
Dough
Bread Flour 145 g
Plain Flour 220 g
Instant Yeast 7 g
Full cream milk 230 g
Castor Sugar 20 g
Unsalted Butter 45 g
Fine salt 10 g
Cheese Fillings
Ricotta Cheese 100 g
Shredded Mozzarella 240 g
Feta Cheese 60 g
Chopped Basil 20 g
Salt & Pepper season
Butter Extra & Set Aside
Mix all ingredients but the butter to Combine
Egg Wash
Egg 50 g
Full cream milk 50 g
Mix to Combine
Method:
1. Place the bread flour, plain flour and yeast into a stand mixer bowl fitted with a dough hook attachment.
2. Meanwhile, melt the butter and leave to cool slightly.
3. In another heat proof bowl, gently heat the milk to lukewarm, roughly between 27°C and 30°C.
4. Place the melted and cooled butter, castor sugar and warmed milk with the flours and yeast and start mixing on low speed until the ingredients have just come together. At this point, the dough will still look slightly rough.
5. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and let rest for 10 minutes.
6. Once the dough have rested, add in the fine salt and start mixing on medium speed for roughly around 4 to 6 minutes or until it passes a window test.
7. Transfer the dough into a lightly oiled bowl big enough for the dough to double in size. Cover with a damp tea towel to bulk ferment or until it double in size. This process will take roughly around 1 hour or more depending on the ambient of your kitchen.
8. Transfer the bulk fermented dough on to a workbench (I avoided dusting any flour to prevent the bread being too dry), lightly deflate the additional gas in the dough by gently flattening it with your palm, then divide in to 4 equal portions.
9. Shape each portion in to an oval then gently roll it out to roughly around 12 cm width x 35 cm length with the help of a rolling pin, ensuring the the center is wider than the edges. You want to shape the dough to look like a boat.
Note: If you want a thicker crush, roll them out slightly smaller.
10. Starting from the edge lengthwise, slightly roll the edges on both sides making sure that you push in down to secure it from unravelling. Roll the sides on both ends one more time until both ends meet, then twist both ends and pinch to secure. Place each Khacapuri bread on to a parchment paper on a baking tray. Cover with a tea towel and let it rise for the final time at room temperature for 30 minutes or until the dough feels light and airy. It shouldn't rise too much in volume at this point.
Meanwhile, pre heat the oven at fan force at 180°C.
11. Once the dough have final proofed and feels light and airy, fill each Khachapuri with the cheese fillings.
12. Brush egg wash on the sides of the bread, bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 12 minutes. Remove the bread from the oven, with a help of a rounded spoon, make an indent on the cheese filling and crack an egg and place a knob of butter on top of each Khachapuri in the indent then return the tray into the oven and bake for a further 6 to 8 minutes or until the egg have just set on top with the yolk still runny for you to dip your bread in and the side of the bread has turn a nice dark golden in color.
Depending on the oven, if you feel that your oven is really hot, you can bake the khachapuri a little longer before adding in the eggs to prevent the egg from getting overcooked.
13. Serve warm and season with salt and pepper.
Note: you can prepare
