Mingrelian Khachapuri
7 servings
80 minutes
Khachapuri is one of the pillars of Georgian cuisine. There are many variations. Megrelian khachapuri probably requires the least effort: you will need a large amount of cheese, an oven, and about an hour and a half of free time. The classic dough for Megrelian khachapuri is made with matsoni, in which case the dough rises thanks to fermented milk microorganisms. However, this rare product in Russia can be replaced with a mixture of milk, sour cream, and dry yeast.
1
Prepare the necessary ingredients.
2
Sift the flour (530 g) into a deep bowl.
- Wheat flour: 550 g
3
Add yeast, salt, sugar, room temperature milk, vegetable oil, and 20 grams of softened butter. Mix everything thoroughly until homogeneous, adding a little water (about 50 ml) if needed.
- Dry yeast: 5 g
- Coarse salt: 11 g
- Sugar: 10 g
- Milk 3.2%: 400 ml
- Vegetable oil: 7 ml
- Butter: 115 g
- Sour cream: 10 g
4
Cover the dough bowl and let it sit for thirty to forty minutes. Divide the dough into five portions — they should be used immediately or sent to the refrigerator.
5
To make the filling, grate all the cheese coarsely, mix it with an egg, and add 20 grams of butter — if the cheese is fatty, you can skip the butter: the filling should be quite loose.
- Suluguni cheese: 580 g
- Imeretian cheese: 170 g
- Chicken egg (country): 2 pieces
- Butter: 115 g
6
Lightly dust each of the five portions of dough with flour and roll out into a circle 5 mm thick. Make holes around the perimeter with a toothpick, wooden skewer, or knife tip to release air.
7
Place 150 grams of cheese filling — a mixture of Imeretian cheese, suluguni (leave 70 grams aside), and a regular egg — in the center of each circle. Join the edges of the dough and pinch. Lightly sprinkle the pies with flour, roll them out again to the diameter of the baking dish and a thickness of 8–10 mm.
- Suluguni cheese: 580 g
- Imeretian cheese: 170 g
- Chicken egg (country): 2 pieces
8
Pierce the khachapuri around the perimeter and place it in dry, ungreased forms. Distribute a mixture of 70 grams of suluguni and the same amount of softened butter (if the cheese is fatty, you can use less butter), a village egg, and sour cream on the pies - it will make the crust especially golden.
9
Place the khachapuri in a preheated oven at maximum temperature for ten minutes.
10
Before baking, brush the pies with melted butter — this will make them look even more appetizing.
- Butter: 115 g