Khachapuri with cheese is a national Georgian dish, which has undergone many changes throughout its existence. There are so many cooking methods now. And in a frying pan, and in the oven, and even in a slow cooker. In general, the best conditions have been created for any recipe to have the right to exist.
Khachapuri in Adjarian style. Photo under standard license @protesto.ru
Khachapuri in Adjara - basic principles of preparation
Yeast dough is prepared for khachapuri. The flour is mixed with the egg, the dough is added, salt is added and the dough is kneaded. Let it rise, then roll it into thin slices.
You can use a wide variety of cheese for filling, depending on your taste and desire. It is crushed on a coarse grater.
Place the filling on each flatbread, pinch the edges and give it a boat shape. Bake in the oven. When ready, beat a raw egg or one yolk into the middle, you can also put a piece of butter and keep it in the oven for a few more minutes. Adjarian khachapuri is ready!
Classic recipe with cheese and egg
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Servings: 4
Calorie content: 234.28 kcal per 100 grams
Adjarian khachapuri is the best Georgian recipe that you can find and cook in a slow cooker. After all, they turn out so tasty that it’s simply impossible to tear yourself away from them. The peculiarity of this dish is that you need to pour an egg on top of them, so they will be even tastier.
It’s very easy to prepare khachapuri at home, the main thing is to have some yeast, make a tasty filling using suluguni cheese and put in a lot of effort, then everything will definitely work out.
Set of products for preparing dough
- 500 grams of flour;
- 400 milliliters of cow's milk;
- 5 grams of yeast;
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil;
- 1 tablespoon butter;
- 1 teaspoon sugar;
- 0.5 teaspoon salt;
A set of products for preparing the filling
- 500 grams of suluguni (cheese);
- 4 chicken eggs;
Recipe
- This recipe is incredibly easy to make. It is enough to take a metal bowl into which you need to sift the entire available amount of flour.
- Then you need to mix the flour with yeast, salt and sugar. As soon as we have a homogeneous dry mixture, add oil.
- Now heat the milk (it should be warm enough) and pour it into the bowl with flour.
- With gentle movements we begin to knead the resulting dough. First we do this in a bowl, but as soon as the dough becomes elastic, you need to knead it on the table. The whole process will take from 5 to 10 minutes.
- Now take the dough, cover it with cling film and do not touch it for half an hour. It should rest, but for now you can start filling.
- Take suluguni cheese (can be replaced with other cheese), grate it on a coarse grater. We are preparing so that the cheese can be placed on our delicious khachapuri.
- Now we start the dough again, it has already rested enough, so it can be used. We cut the entire piece into 4 parts, each of which will have to be rolled out into a circle or oval with a silicone rolling pin.
- Now we make a boat from each oval. To do this, we twist the sides and secure their ends. You should end up with a neat boat, ready for sailing.
- Now we load each boat with cheese filling. There is no need to save, we don’t skimp on the cheese, there should be plenty of filling.
- Now we warm up the baking tray a little in the oven, then cover it with baking paper and place our boats on it. Or we cook in a slow cooker and put the boats in it.
- We also bake for no more than 10 minutes at a temperature of 250–280 degrees. When the boat becomes golden brown, you need to remove it from the oven so that the filling (cheese) does not burn.
- Now pour the chicken egg over each of our boats, and then put the khachapuri in the oven for another 3 minutes so that the egg can bake. You can also cook in a slow cooker, the process will be even faster.
We serve such khachapuri to the table immediately after removing it from the sheet, since they must be eaten hot.
This is how easy it is to make the classic khachapuri recipe using suluguni cheese in the oven or slow cooker at home. The cooking process does not take much time, and it is a pleasure to cook, and what a filling. Is it possible to do anything simpler?
Dough making traditions
The traditional version of the dough is prepared from:
Matsoni is a Caucasian drink prepared by fermenting boiled and slightly cooled milk of domestic animals. The word “matsoni” itself is of Armenian origin.
You don’t need to add a lot of flour to the dough; the mass should remain soft and slightly stick to your hands. You don’t start making khachapuri right away; you need to let the dough sit for a while.
Initially, the dough for Adjarian khachapuri was unleavened; the base was a mixture of water and flour. But chefs have their own secrets and can choose yeast or even puff pastry. The classic option is still the one using matsoni. The drink itself is a good alternative to yeast, but in our country it is found almost nowhere. Therefore, as an alternative, cooks are using other fermented milk products.
Advice! “Khachapuri cooked with yeast will be soft and fluffy, so you can eat it already cooled. Dough mixed with matsoni is good only in hot khachapuri, then it loses its excellent taste.”
A little history
Experienced chefs always advise before starting to prepare an unknown dish to plunge into its history. “Egg boats” appeared in the Middle Ages in northwestern Georgia. Since then, every housewife has strived to give the dish her own family flavor. If translated from Georgian, the name will mean “bread with cottage cheese.”
One of the most important cooking rules, which has not changed for centuries, is equal proportions of cheese (or any other filling) and dough. Experienced housewives advise using even more filling, so the baked goods will turn out much tastier. Depending on the region, the recipe for making khachapuri “Boat with Egg” will differ. Somewhere the egg is mixed with cheese or cottage cheese, somewhere the filling is placed on the bottom and the egg is broken on top. Any Georgian chef will say that for cooking it is important not only to know the recipe, but to have patience and a real Georgian “hot” temperament.
How to sculpt and fill boats correctly?
The finished dough is divided into parts from which balls are rolled. Their size should be no larger than a fist. The dough is rolled out with a rolling pin into an oval shape. Some cooks do this by hand or take the path of least resistance and just make a big pie. The finished dish is only divided into parts before serving. Everyone decides for themselves what type of dish to give preference to.
To achieve a crispy crust, you need to roll out the cake as thin as possible. If you like a soft snack, the thickness of the dough is made at least a centimeter. After the cake is ready, the edges are pinched and a boat is formed. The filling is placed inside and the oven is turned on. The temperature inside it is brought to 200 °C, after which the half-finished khachapuri is sent to bake. In addition to baked khachapuri, there are also ones cooked in a frying pan.
The sides of the khachapuri are brushed with yolk to obtain a golden blush. Cooking time is about 20 minutes, much depends on the type of oven. As soon as the boats are baked, they are taken out and poured over the eggs. It is necessary to try, and for aesthetic reasons, to prevent the yolk from breaking. Then the appetizer is returned to the oven for just a couple of minutes. The final touch is to place a piece of butter on top of the khachapuri (as in the image).
What kind of cheese should I get?
There is an opinion among experienced chefs that the most delicious will be Adjarian-style khachapuri, in which there will be a little more filling than dough. Caucasian traditions dictate some rules for choosing cheese. You should not take a mature product, because it stretches and when the khachapuri cools down, the consistency of the filler will not be the best.
The appetizer is prepared only from young varieties, which include:
- Imeretian;
- Mozzarella;
- Suluguni;
- Adyghe cheese;
- feta cheese.
The salty product should be placed in water for several hours and soaked, then adding cottage cheese. Thanks to cottage cheese, the degree of saltiness of khachapuri is significantly reduced, and the filling becomes softer. This fact is especially important if for some reason hard cheese is used.
The filling of traditional Adjarian khachapuri contains an egg. Thanks to this product, it will resemble a paste and will have a very delicate taste. The addition of herbs and garlic is rather an innovation; the traditional version of the dish did without such ingredients.
Advice! “Another secret of a delicious dish is a special way of preparing cheese. You need to break it with your hands or use a tablespoon for these purposes, but do not resort to a grater.”
Recipe for kefir with suluguni cheese
Cooking time: 60 minutes
Servings: 5–6
Calorie content: 240 kcal per 100 grams
Khachapuri with kefir is very simple and light. Thanks to him, the resulting khachapuri will shine in a new way.
Set of products for preparing dough
- 4 cups flour;
- 0.5 liters of kefir;
- 200 grams of margarine;
- 1 teaspoon salt;
- 1 teaspoon of soda;
- 1 teaspoon vinegar;
A set of products for preparing the filling
- 0.5 kilograms of Ossetian cheese (or Suluguni cheese);
- 1 chicken egg.
Useful tips for khachapuri at home
Having brought together many years of experience in preparing Adjarian-style khachapuri, we can highlight several general tips:
- It is better to cut large pieces of cheese so that excess salt can escape freely.
- If you want to create a truly Georgian dish, you don’t have to look for matsoni on sale, but make it at home. To do this, you will need one and a half liters of milk and a tablespoon of kefir for the starter. After mixing the products in a container, you need to wrap it in something warm and let the mixture stand for 5 hours. Lactic acid bacteria will begin to multiply in milk. Then the mass is transferred to the refrigerator to thicken.
- Culinary experts believe that the ratio of water and flour in an ideal dough should be 1 to 3. But each cook has his own recipe and his own proportions, so finding the best option can only be done experimentally.
- To prevent the dough from sticking to your hands while making boats, you need to let it sit after kneading. The gluten will swell and the mass will become more pliable and elastic, which will simplify the work. Ready khachapuri will melt in your mouth.
Recipe without yeast
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Servings: 4
Calorie content: 264 kcal per 100 grams
This cooking method without using yeast is also incredibly simple, and it will also teach the housewife how to make delicious dough, which will be useful not only for khachapuri, but also for many other culinary masterpieces. This recipe is also low in calories.
Set of products for preparing dough
- Wheat flour - as much as needed;
- 200 grams of butter;
- 1 glass of matsoni (yogurt);
- 0.5 spoons of soda.
A set of products for preparing the filling
- 600 grams of cheese;
- 2 chicken eggs;
Recipe
- Take a large bowl into which we add preheated oil. It should be very soft and flexible. Add matsoni or yogurt to it, then use a little salt.
- Once these ingredients are in the bowl, you need to start whisking. You can do this with a mixer, or you can use a fork or a whisk.
- Then pour the sifted wheat flour into a bowl and also add soda.
- Now we begin to knead the dough. It is better to do this with your hands, and carefully. We need all the lumps of flour to dissolve, otherwise we simply won’t succeed. The dough should eventually become elastic and not stick to your hands. We cut the finished dough into 4 equal parts, each part is our future boat.
- Now we roll up the edges and form the boat itself. Then the filling is added to each - grated cheese.
- Now the khachapuri needs to be put in the oven, and shortly before it’s ready, you need to take it out and brush it with an egg. Then continue the procedure of baking the boats in the oven (multi-cooker) until fully cooked.
It’s not so difficult to make khachapuri from yeast dough, because it still turns out fluffy. After all, the absence of yeast can be very easily replaced with fermented milk products.
Khachapuri from Tinatin Mzhavanadze
The popular blogger and best-selling culinary author offers his readers a step-by-step recipe for the perfect Adjarian khachapuri. The appetizer will be very tasty if the dough is soft, the crust is crispy, the cheese and egg filling is tender, the bottom is dry, and the sides are golden brown. It is not difficult to prepare such a dish, you just need to follow the recipe.
First, milk is mixed with water in a separate container. Sugar, salt and packaged yeast are poured in there one by one, sunflower oil is poured in, then everything is thoroughly mixed. The soft dough is kneaded exclusively with sifted flour, and it should rise in a warm place for about an hour and a half. The risen dough is lowered and allowed to stand a little longer.
While the khachapuri base is being perfected, it’s time for the filling. Cheese, according to tradition, is broken by hand. You can use a coarse grater, in this matter everything is individual. At the end, drinking water is poured in to achieve a more delicate consistency. If desired, you can add a little garlic.
Divide the dough into small balls and roll out oval cakes. At first it is difficult to achieve the desired shape, but a couple of molded khachapuri will already allow you to fill your hand. The finished forms are laid out on a greased sheet. The filling is placed in the middle of each boat, and the sheet is sent into a hot oven. The temperature should be high – 250 °C. After 15 minutes, the sheet is taken out, an egg is poured into the center of the baking, everything goes into the oven to finish.
Hot khachapuri is placed on a large plate, a little butter on top of each boat completes the picture. The dish is ready, you can start tasting!
To prepare the dough you will need:
- flour – 1 kg;
- milk – 1 glass;
- water – 0.5 liters;
- dry yeast – 1 tbsp;
- sugar and salt - 1 tsp each;
- refined vegetable oil – 2 tbsp.
The filling is made from Imeretian cheese (1 kg) or a mixture of several varieties (250 g of each type), water (half a glass) and garlic (1 clove). An egg for decoration is taken depending on the number of baked khachapuri. It will be interesting to place the filling in layers, especially if you use 3-4 different varieties.
Khachapuri from Adjara
They say that people who have once tried Adjarian khachapuri “Boat with Egg” will forever remain fans of this simple, tasty and beautiful dish. If you decide to enjoy this type of khachapuri, you don’t have to go to an expensive restaurant. Today we will tell you how to prepare a dish at home without any special culinary skills or experience.
Cooking time is 40-45 minutes. The preparatory stage will take a little longer - 3-4 hours. The calorie content of the dish per hundred grams is 317 kcal.
Video on how to cook 2 large boat-shaped khachapuri
And as always, my favorite chef Ilya Lazerson will share with you the subtleties and secrets of preparing real Adjarian khachapuri.
The ingredients needed to prepare khachapuri are no different from the first three recipes in this article. Therefore, it will not be difficult for you to repeat this culinary masterpiece.
If you know any other subtleties of preparing khachapuri, be sure to share them in the comments. All the best!
Khachapuri is a national Georgian dish, which is a flatbread with a delicious filling of young cheese. Russians sometimes associate the word khachapuri with a flatbread stuffed with potatoes and meat. Georgians do not consider this understanding of the dish correct. In all of Georgia, you cannot find two such places where cheese cakes are prepared in the same way; each chef has his own twist. Adjarian-style khachapuri is of particular interest.
