Adjara · 2,5 h · Vegetarian · Main course · For experienced cooks
Achma
In German: Atschma
For 8 servings · US units
Georgian layered cheese pie — paper-thin dough sheets, two cheeses, plenty of butter
Achma comes from Adjara: a layered pie built from paper-thin sheets of dough and two kinds of cheese, so close in construction to lasagne that the comparison gets made all the time. Melted butter goes between every single layer, and what comes out of the oven is deep golden on top and stringy with cheese the moment you cut into it. It belongs on an everyday table as much as on a supra, and it wants cold matsoni beside it, especially when the weather is warm.
Ingredients
- 1¾ lbwheat flour
- 4eggfor the dough
- ¾ cupwaterlukewarm
- 1 tspsaltfor dough, plus salt for the boiling water
- 1½ lbcoarsely grated; can be replaced by mozzarella with fetaA Georgian brined cheese made from cow's or buffalo milk, scalded and kneaded like mozzarella, sliceable, salty and mildly sour.Substitute: The usual stand-in is roughly two parts low-moisture mozzarella to one part feta or another brined cheese: the mozzarella provides the melt and stretch, the feta the salt and tang. The blend does not fully match sulguni, being softer and less fibrous, and feta on its own would crumble rather than melt. For smoked sulguni, part of the mix can be replaced with smoked scamorza.Read more
- 10½ ozas a second, milder cheese (optional)A young Georgian brined cheese made from cow's milk, soft, slightly crumbly and mildly tangy and salty.Substitute: A well-tested mix is roughly two parts mozzarella to one part feta: the mozzarella provides the melt, the feta the salt and tang. The result is stringier and somewhat saltier than the original; for a milder version, replace part of the feta with drained cottage cheese or farmer's cheese.Read more
- 7 ozbuttermelted, for brushing every layer
- 1egg yolkfor glazing the top (optional)
- 2 tbspvegetable oilkneaded into the dough at the end (optional)
- 1 tspsugarin the dough (optional)
- 1 pinchbaking sodain the dough (optional)
- served cold alongside (optional)Georgian cultured milk, similar to a thin, distinctly tangy plain yogurt.Substitute: Plain whole-milk yogurt, not strained or Greek-style, loosened with a little milk or kefir, comes fairly close in texture and tang. It tastes somewhat milder and rounder; if the fresh sourness is missing, use a larger share of kefir or buttermilk.Read more
Method
- Make and rest the doughWhisk the eggs with the lukewarm water and salt, work in the wheat flour a little at a time, and knead to a firm dough that doesn't stick to your hands. If you like, add the sugar and a pinch of baking soda, and knead in the vegetable oil at the very end. Cover the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes to 2 hours.
- Mix the cheeses, butter the dishMeanwhile, coarsely grate the sulguni cheese, crumble the Imeretian cheese and mix the two together. Melt the butter and brush the baking dish with some of it.
- Roll out the dough sheetsDivide the dough into 5 to 9 pieces and roll each one out on a floured surface until it is paper-thin, about 1.5 mm, and roughly the size of your dish.
- Blanch the dough sheetsBring a large pot of salted water to the boil and set a bowl of ice-cold water next to it. Set one sheet aside raw for the bottom layer. Cook all the remaining sheets, including the one that will go on top, one at a time and briefly in the bubbling water, lift each straight into the cold water, then drain them well.
- Lay the raw bottom sheetLay the reserved raw sheet into the dish, letting the edges hang over the rim, and brush it with melted butter.
- Layer dough and cheeseNow build up the pie: add a boiled sheet, brush it with butter and scatter over some cheese, then repeat layer by layer until the cheese is used up. Keep one boiled sheet back for the end and lay it on top, so the top layer is dough.
- Seal, glaze and pre-cutFold the overhanging edges inwards, brush the surface with butter and beaten egg yolk, and cut the pie into portion-sized squares before it goes into the oven. Spoon a little butter into the cuts.
- Bake until golden and restBake at 390 °F for about 35–45 minutes, until golden brown. Take it out, brush once more with butter or cover it with foil or a cloth, let it rest briefly, then serve.
- Serve warm or coldAchma is just as good warm as it is completely cooled.
Tips and variations
There's room to play with the cheese: instead of or alongside sulguni cheese, curd cheese, brynza, adyghe cheese, tilsiter or chechil all work. Herbs and black pepper give the filling extra seasoning. Some cooks pour a mixture of egg with milk, kefir or cream between the layers. Others grate the butter and mix it into the cheese instead of brushing it on layer by layer. Another school leaves the top sheet raw as well as the bottom one and boils only the sheets in between. In a hurry, take thin lavash flatbread and soak it layer by layer in an egg mixture. Instead of the oven, achma can also be baked in a pan over low heat under a lid, turned once. Traditionally it's served with cold matsoni.
Allergens
Contains: Eggs, Cereals containing gluten, Milk (including lactose)
These notes follow from this recipe's ingredient list. Ready-made products and brands may contain further allergens — please check the packaging yourself.
Something not right?
This recipe was put together from independent sources and checked before publishing. Even so, a mistake can slip through — an amount that does not add up, a step that does not work as written. If you spot something, write to us: we will look into it and put it right.
