This khachapuri is a meal in itself—a luscious cheesy, eggy, buttery bath to dip the edges of the bread into. I got the original recipe from Arkadiy Petrosyan, a master acharuli breadmaker from Batumi on the Black Sea coast. He used an incredibly fresh Imeretian cheese that I found was impossible to source outside Georgia. Yotam Ottolenghi uses a mixture of ricotta, Halloumi, and feta, which works a treat, while Nigella Lawson favors feta, mozzarella, and ricotta, and Felicity Cloake in The A–Z of Eating opts for hard mozzarella and feta. I have tried it with my beloved Ogleshield, and its mild dairiness was closer to the original. If you can’t find Ogleshield, try a 2:1 ratio of Edam and cheddar instead.
Serving a big crowd? Try this large-format version instead.
Recipe information
Yield
Makes 6
Ingredients
Dough
7
2
200
450
10
Filling
100
250
250
10
6
Need to make a substitution?
Preparation
Step 1
To make the dough, mix the yeast with the sugar, water, flour, and salt in a bowl. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and either leave in the refrigerator overnight or somewhere in your kitchen for an hour or so until doubled in size.
Step 2
For the filling, mix the cheeses with the single egg yolk and use a fork to mash well.
Step 3
Preheat the oven to its highest setting and heat a couple of baking sheets—or a pizza stone if you have one.
Step 4
Flour your work surface really well. Cover your hands in flour and scrape the dough on to your work surface. Knead it in the flour a little if it’s too sticky. Divide the dough into 6 pieces (each piece should be about 100 g (3½ oz). Roll out each piece of dough on a lightly floured work surface into a 18 cm (7-inch) round. Stretch either side of each round to elongate and then pile 100 g (3½ oz) of filling in the centre, leaving a 5 mm (¼ inch) border around the edge. Bring two sides of the dough up to meet in the middle and pinch a seam together to seal, similar to a Cornish pasty. Press down with the flat of your hand to flatten it, then flip it over so the seam is face down. With a sharp knife, make a slash along the middle of the dough and push the sides open to expose the filling. Repeat with the rest of the dough and filling to make 6 khachapuris.
Step 5
Slide the khachapuris on to the hot baking trays and bake for 10 minutes until the sides turn golden. Crack an egg into the centre of each, then bake for a further 2–3 minutes. To eat, pinch the dough from one end and use it to dip and mix the runny egg yolk into the filling.
