Without Georgian Shoti bread, not a single meal of a Georgian feast can be imagined. And although the table of the mountain people is always replete with various delicacies, shoti is indispensable.
Even someone who fasts or adheres to a diet can afford it, since there is no yeast in it, and bread is baked in the oven.
How to bake real Georgian shoti bread? The recipe is presented below.
What is shoti
Shoti is the national bread of the Georgian people, which has the shape of a boat and always a hole in the middle. For some reason, most people mistakenly believe that shoti is pita bread. In fact, these are completely two different dishes, while pita bread is flat and wide.
To taste Georgian shoti bread means to know the whole culinary culture of Georgia. Rich bread, with a pleasant salty taste, clean, tender and airy. Shoti perfectly complements both hot dishes and juicy kebabs.
It is better to eat shoti as soon as it is served - hot and fragrant. After lying a little, bread will simply lose all its beneficial properties. But storing it for three days is still not forbidden.
Of particular interest, in addition to taste, is the form of shoti. The shape of the boat is a tribute to tradition, rooted far back in time. And be sure to have a hole in the middle of the bread. If it is not done, then hot air will expand the baking inside, and it will turn it into a bubble.
As previously prepared
The shoti bread recipe has been carefully preserved since ancient times, when it was cooked more often on fire, and the remaining ingredients from the previous cooking were not thrown away. So, from baking bread, all the leftovers were collected and cleaned in a warm place, soured.
The collected and acidifying mixture was called "purised." When it soured well, salt and water, as well as flour were added to it and mixed thoroughly. Yeast or beer was also added.
The dough was kneaded for a long time, and then placed in a special dish - "wartsley" - prepared. When it finally "matured", it was cut into several parts, laid them on a wooden board and covered with a towel.
In the meantime, they prepared a stove called “tone,” in which shoti was baked and baked to this day. The furnace was heated, and its walls were sprayed with salted water. This process was called "feed tone salt." This contributed to the fact that the dough firmly settled on the walls of the stove until the end of frying, while acquiring a delicious golden crispy salt crust.
Georgian shoti bread was prepared once a week, not more often. And he was served in a solemn family atmosphere, when many relatives gathered and the best treats were delivered.
Some tips
- All ingredients used in the Georgian shoti bread recipe must be at room temperature.
- For cooking, a regular baking sheet in a conventional oven is also suitable. Some, in order to somehow bring their preparation to the traditional, tighten the baking sheet with heat-resistant material so that the bread is well covered with a crust.
- Shoti can be served on the table in its entirety, right from the “oven”, or in an original way: chopped bread is cut in half, and 2 branches of cilantro and a slice of suluguni are put inside so that it melts a little from the heat of shoti.
- As a suitable drink for shoti, red wine or ordinary tarragon is used.
- If the shoti is cooked a little in advance before serving, then so that it does not cool, it is covered with a towel and left in the oven.
What is bread made from in Georgia?
The recipe for Georgian shoti bread in the oven involves the use of the same ingredients as when baking in toné.
The main ingredients are:
- flour;
- yeast;
- water and salt.
Some add finely chopped onions. But it only supplements, and will not affect the general taste in any way.
Georgian Shoti Recipe
To prepare 1 piece of shoti, the ingredients must be taken in the following proportions:
- 4 tablespoons of wheat flour;
- 50 ml of water;
- 2 grams of dry yeast;
- half a teaspoon of salt.
All ingredients must be mixed in a deep bowl, and then thoroughly knead the dough. Then you need to cover it with a towel or wrap it with cling film and put it in a warm place for 1.5-2 hours.
Then roll out the dough so that it acquires an oblong shape with pointed edges. It is imperative to make a hole in the middle so that the shape is preserved during baking.
The Georgians bake the shoti in the tone stoves, and attach it to the wall of the stove. In the context of ordinary Russian cuisine, you will have to use an ordinary oven and a baking sheet. The latter must be covered with baking paper and gently transferred to it while raw shoti is still there. The top of the future bread is greased with brine (salt and water) to make a tasty crust.
Send a baking sheet with bread in the oven. Expose 200 degrees and detect 8-10 minutes. As soon as the baking is browned, it can be taken out.
Calorie content
Even those who strictly count calories can safely eat Georgian shoti bread without worrying about gaining extra pounds. But to limit it is worth 1 little thing. Since the energy value of 1 shoti is 229 kcal.
Even in fasting it can be used, because in the composition there are no eggs and other products of animal origin.
As for the BJU, the composition is as follows:
- proteins - 7 grams;
- fats - 0.73 grams;
- carbohydrates - 47.
The amount of fast carbohydrates is minimal, and there is practically no fat. Therefore, shoti is useful.
Yeastless Shoti
Deviating from the traditional recipe for Georgian shoti bread (photo attached in the article), you can modify it a bit and remove the yeast from the composition. You can replace them with natural sourdough, which you can buy or cook yourself. However, cooking will take a lot of time - a week. So think over this step in advance.
You can not neglect yeast or milk sourdough, since they provide the raising of dough, which is important for shoti. But milk sourdough will provoke the production of sour milk bacteria, which are beneficial for the body.
Useful for cooking:
- 0.4 kg of wheat flour;
- glass of water;
- 150 ml of milk sourdough, you can take plain yogurt without additives;
- a pair of tablespoons of odorless vegetable oil;
- half a teaspoon of salt.
Some add 1/4 teaspoon of sugar, but this component is completely optional.
The cooking steps are as follows:
- Sift the flour into a deep bowl. Add salt and vegetable oil (sugar, if necessary).
- Pour warm water in the same bowl.
- The contents of the bowl are thoroughly mixed and left to rest for several minutes.
- When the "rest" is over, add leaven to the mixture and knead the dough. Its consistency should not be excessively thick.
- Preheat the oven to 200-250 degrees.
- The baking sheet is lined with parchment paper.
- The mixed dough is divided into equal parts, a shoti boat is formed from each.
- A baking sheet is sprinkled with a small amount of flour, on which the shotis puri is laid.
- Clean in the oven for 20-25 minutes. As soon as a crispy golden crust appears, the bread is baked.
It is better to serve the yeastless shoti, as well as its traditional version, to the table "in the heat of the heat." In the cooled version, this bread is not so tasty, but also pretty good.
How to make shoti: video
Conclusion
Georgian shoti bread is an opportunity to touch Georgian traditions without visiting the territory of this wonderful country. An elementary set of ingredients will allow even a novice mistress to surprise loved ones with unusual bread.
The main thing is to correctly execute the cooking technology, otherwise the shoti will not work and it will go bad in the oven. Well, do not forget to grease with saline.