Khachapuri

Ingredients

• 10½ ozwheat flourfor the dough, sifted
• 8¾ ozsulguni cheesecoarsely grated; alternatively another good melting cheese
• 2eggfor dough, filling and glazing
• ⅔ cupmilkas liquid for the dough
• ⅔ cupwaterlukewarm, for the yeast dough (optional)
• 1¾ ozbutterin the dough and for brushing the finished flatbreads
• 5¼ ozQuark / curd cheesefor the filling or in the dough, sieved or blended smooth
• ¼ ozDry yeastfor the yeast dough
• 1 tspBaking powderas leavening in the quick dough (optional)
• 1 tspsugarfor the dough
• saltfor dough and filling
• 2 tbspvegetable oilfor the dough and for pan-frying
• 1 bunchparsleyfinely chopped, into the filling
• 1 bunchDillfinely chopped, in addition to the parsley (optional)
• 1 cupkefiras liquid in the quick dough instead of yeast (optional)
• 1⅛ lbpuff pastryready-made dough as a shortcut instead of homemade dough (optional)
• garlicfinely chopped or dried, into the cheese filling (optional)
• black pepperground, for the filling (optional)

Method

1. For the dough, combine the sifted wheat flour with the dry yeast (or baking powder instead), salt and sugar. Stir the lukewarm milk or water together with some of the melted butter, the vegetable oil and one egg, then pour it into the flour.
2. Knead everything into a smooth, soft dough that pulls away from the side of the bowl. Cover it and leave it in a warm spot until visibly risen — anywhere from 15 to 80 minutes, depending on the leavening you used.
3. For the filling, coarsely grate the sulguni and mix it with the quark, the second egg and the finely chopped parsley, plus dill if you like. Season with salt and black pepper; a little chopped garlic works well here too.
4. Divide the dough into four pieces and roll each one out on a lightly floured surface into a round flatbread.
5. Pile the filling into the middle, gather the edges of the dough up over it and pinch them firmly shut so no cheese escapes during baking.
6. Turn each parcel seam side down and roll it out again, gently, into a flatbread about a centimetre thick.
7. Either bake in a preheated oven at 180 to 465 °F until the surface is golden brown, or fry in a pan with a little vegetable oil over medium heat until golden on both sides.
8. Brush the finished breads with melted butter straight away and serve them warm.

Tips and variations

There are plenty of routes to khachapuri: instead of yeast, make a quick dough with kefir and bicarbonate of soda, or simply roll out puff pastry and fill it as a turnover, triangle, roll or covered pie. For the lazy version, whisk egg, milk, flour and grated cheese into a half-liquid batter and cook it in a covered pan without any filling, flipping it once. The filling also works with just quark, egg and parsley, with a mix of sulguni and brined brynza, or with processed cheese and onions fried until golden; for a gluten-free version, make the dough from quark, cheese, egg, olive oil and rice flour and cook it in the pan. For Adjaruli khachapuri, shape an oval flatbread with the edges drawn up into a boat, fill it with cheese and drop an egg yolk into the hollow just before the end — serve with butter. The Mingrelian style is a round filled flatbread, pricked with a fork and baked briefly at high heat. Khachapuri is at its best hot.