Khachapuri – a Georgian Delight
·Starter
Crumble the yeast into lukewarm milk and let it sit somewhere warm until a starter forms. Meanwhile, in a bowl (or in your stand mixer if you have one), mix the flour with salt, then add the egg and melted butter.
Smooth dough
Once nice bubbles appear on the surface of the milk and yeast mixture and the starter begins to rise, pour it into the bowl with the flour mixture. Mix thoroughly to form a smooth, lovely dough, then cover with a tea towel and leave it somewhere warm to rise. This takes about an hour.
Chop the cheese
I used Emmental and mozzarella. Since I'm a lazy cook, I cut the Emmental into chunks, left the mozzarella whole, and tossed both into the food processor to pulse them into small pieces.
Divide the dough
Done. Next, take a piece of chilled butter, chop it into small pieces with a knife, and add it to the cheese before filling the dough. Divide the dough into two portions – we'll be baking two flatbreads.
Roll it out
Place the first portion of dough on your work surface, keeping the second one resting under the towel. Roll the dough out into a flat round. You can also flatten it by hand – I used a small rolling pin, the kind used for traditional Czech pastries.
Spread the filling
Tip half of the cheese filling into the centre of the dough round. Now comes the slightly trickier part of the whole process. Spread the cheese out a little across the surface, but not all the way to the edges.
Fold in the edges
Fold the edges in all the way around so the cheese filling is completely covered. You should end up with a firmer, smaller round, which you then transfer onto a baking sheet.
Press it together
Now it's time to use your fingers to press the dough and filling together and reshape it into a round with the cheese sitting in the middle. I pressed it by hand and finished off with the small rolling pin again.
Don't let the filling leak out
The filling shouldn't poke out anywhere, so take your time. Ideally, the khachapuri should have an even layer of dough on top and underneath. I baked mine on a pizza tray, so I managed to get a nice round shape. Highly recommended – it really pays off.
Prick it
Here's a little trick I figured out entirely on my own. Once the khachapuri is rolled out and looking lovely, prick it in a few places with a fork so it doesn't puff up while baking.
Bake
Brush the khachapuri generously with egg yolk whisked with milk. Then pop it into the oven, which should be thoroughly preheated to 250°C. Bake for a short ten minutes, until golden brown. As soon as it comes out of the oven, brush it generously with a piece of butter – don't be shy! Let it rest before serving.