If you suddenly need to briefly characterize khachapuri, then perhaps you will immediately say that this is Georgian pastry with cheese and, I must say, you will not be mistaken in your statement, because it really is. However, despite its correctness, it will remain too dry and incomplete, unsaid, because the world knows a rather large variety of this dish, for which not only cheese is used as a filling. Today you can find khachapuri recipes from puff pastry, from yeast, as well as from yeast-free. Good housewives will immediately realize that from the yeast dough, khachapuri will turn out to be more airy and voluminous, and from a yeast-free, on the contrary, more crumbly. However, the variety of this Georgian dish is not one test. Different, as already mentioned a little earlier, may be the filling. In our area khachapuri with puff pastry cheese is very common. I must say that Georgia is very fond of using different varieties of cheese, but there is always one unshakable rule when choosing it: for khachapuri, only one that belongs to a number of soft varieties is suitable, and therefore the cheese and suluguni became the most popular for this purpose. Very often, in addition to cheese, greens and meat are added to the filling. A distinctive feature of Georgian khachapuri is also the process of kneading dough - it is done strictly on fermented milk drinks. As for the form of khachapuri, this is an aspect more aesthetic than national - it can be different. A dish is prepared both in the oven and in a pan, but without adding fat and oil (it is allowed, however, to grease the pan a little before you start frying the first khachapuri).
And now I would like to give an example of some of the most common recipes for making khachapuri in the Caucasus.
Khachapuri with puff pastry cheese
For cooking you will need:
Dough:
- 1 chicken egg;
- 1/3 Art. kefir (instead of it you can take liquid sour cream);
- 200 g flour;
- salt to taste
Filling:
- 250 g. Soft fresh cheese;
- 1 chicken egg;
- 15 g butter
The process of making the dough looks very simple: the egg and kefir are mixed, salt is added (if desired, you can add a little bit of soda in order to make the dough more magnificent). Only after that, flour is slowly introduced into the prepared mixture and the dough is kneaded until the desired consistency is obtained. The dough prepared according to this recipe always turns out to be very smooth and tender, which subsequently affects the taste of the prepared khachapuri.
Now is the time to prepare the filling. To do this, cut the cheese into thin slices and mix it with the egg and butter. The resulting mass must be very well knead.
Now back to the test. It must be divided into two identical parts and one of them rolled out in the form in which they will subsequently be fried. After that, put the filling on it so that there is empty space at the edges (about 1 cm). Then a second, also rolled out, layer of dough is laid on top, and the edges are plucked in the place where there was an empty space. All this must be fried in a pan until a golden crust appears (it takes about 8 minutes). After one side is covered with a crust, khachapuri must be turned over and, having covered the pan with a lid, continue to frying until the golden crust appears on the second side. After the khachapuri is ready, you need to put it on a plate. In order to give it a pleasant aroma, pour it on top with pre-melted butter.
Khachapuri with cheese and cottage cheese
Khachapuri recipe with cheese and cottage cheese is very similar to the previous recipe. However, it differs from khachapuri with puff pastry cheese in both the filling and the method of preparation. If khachapuri with cheese is cooked by frying in a pan, then khachapuri with cottage cheese is baked in the oven. As for the filling, everything is clear here: in the first case, it consists only of cheese, and in the second, in addition to cheese, cottage cheese is added.
For cooking you will need:
Dough:
- 2.5 tbsp. fermented milk product (it is recommended to take kefir);
- 1.4 kg of wheat flour;
- 0.5 tsp baking soda;
- 50 g butter;
- vinegar;
- salt
Filling:
- 0.5 kg of soft cheese;
- 0.2 kg of cottage cheese;
- 70 g butter;
- 3 chicken eggs
The process of making the dough is exactly the same as for the previous recipe, but only taking into account the fact that this recipe does not involve the addition of chicken eggs to the dough. The finished dough is also divided into two identical parts, the first of which is rolled out in a thin layer and placed in a baking dish. Then a filling is put on it, consisting of cheese grated on a coarse grater, mixed with cottage cheese and eggs, after which all this is also covered with a thinly rolled second layer of dough. A baking sheet with such contents must be sent to the oven until complete readiness.
I don’t want to ignore another Khachapuri recipe, according to which this dish is prepared in Western Georgia. It is very simple and the cooking process for it is similar to the recipe for making khachapuri with puff pastry cheese, but it is made from yeast dough.
Yeast dough Khachapuri
For cooking you will need:
Dough:
- 1 kg of wheat flour;
- 3-4 tbsp vegetable oil;
- 2 tbsp. milk (you can use plain water);
- 10 g of yeast (if using dry, then take 2 tsp);
- 1 tsp Sahara;
- 0.5 tsp salts;
- small chicken egg (for greasing)
The filling , according to this recipe, is very simple and consists of 1 kg. soft cheese.
In order to prepare a yeast dough, you must first heat the milk (or water), and then dissolve the yeast and sugar in it. After that, leave the yeast for a while so that they rise. In the meantime, sift the flour and, as the yeast is ready, pour them along with milk into it. After that, add salt, oil and, kneading the dough, let it brew. While the dough will wander, it is advisable to make a couple more of its wrecks.
In the meantime, you have time to prepare the filling. Due to the minimum ingredients of which it consists, the process of its preparation is very simple - mash the cheese with your hands or grate it.
When the dough comes up, go directly to the process of creating khachapuri. To do this, tear the dough with your hands into small pieces. Mash each of them a little, and then lay a generous slide of cheese. After that, grab the edges of the cake and connect them on top so that the resulting image looks more like a bag, and then mash it so that it is flattened - so you make a cake again from the bag - this helps to evenly distribute the filling over the entire internal area. Exactly the same actions need to be done with the remaining torn pieces, and then leave them to lie down for a while. In the meantime, sprinkle flour on the pan and, once again kneading each cake, lay them on it and begin to fry. Before frying, they can be greased with an egg, and after cooking, with butter.