Georgian cuisine
Imeretian khachapuri
იმერული ხაჭაპური
A round flatbread with the cheese inside rather than on top. The dough is made on matsoni, and there is as much filling as there is dough.
- Prep
- 90 min
- Cook
- 20 min
- Total
- 110 min
- Difficulty
- Medium
Ingredients
- Flour400 g
- Matsoni or kefir — at room temperature200 ml
- Egg1
- Butter — melted40 g
- Dry yeast1 tsp
- Sugar1 tsp
- Suluguni — grated250 g
- Fresh curd cheese250 g
- Salt1 tsp
Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.
Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.
Method
- 1
Stir the yeast and sugar into the warm matsoni and leave it ten minutes to foam. No foam means dead yeast, so start again.
10 min
- 2
Add the egg, the melted butter, the salt and the flour. Knead a soft dough: it should stay slightly tacky, and no more flour goes in.
10 min
- 3
Cover it and leave it somewhere warm for an hour, until it has doubled.
60 min
- 4
Mix both cheeses together by hand until even and divide into four balls. Divide the dough into four as well.
5 min
- 5
Roll each piece of dough into a disc, set a ball of cheese in the middle, gather the edges to the centre and pinch them shut. Turn it seam down and roll it gently to about a centimetre thick.
10 min
- 6
Cook in a dry pan over medium heat for about four minutes a side, until dark spots appear. Brush the finished bread with butter.
16 min
About the dish
Imeretian khachapuri differs from the Adjarian kind in more than shape: the cheese is fully enclosed and the bread is cooked in a dry pan rather than baked as a boat with an egg. The ratio is simple — the filling weighs the same as the dough.
The cheese should be a brined one with a little sourness. Imeretian cheese is hard to find, so the usual swap is suluguni mixed with a fresh curd cheese: the first stretches, the second brings the tang. If the cheese is very salty, soak it in water for an hour.
Worth knowing
- — Prick the middle with a fork before it goes in the pan, or steam will balloon it and split the seam.
- — A dry pan is not a mistake. The fat in the dough and the cheese is enough, and added oil gives a tough crust.
Nutrition
Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.
- Calories
- 620 kcal
- Protein
- 28 g
- Fat
- 30 g
- Carbs
- 58 g