Khachapuri Georgian Feast Bread Recipes

Steps:

• Dough: Heat the butter and milk in a small saucepan, or in the microwave, till the butter has melted. Put the sugar, coriander and salt in a medium-sized bowl, and pour the hot milk over them, stirring to combine and to dissolve the malt or sugar. Set aside to cool to lukewarm.
• Add the instant yeast and flour to the milk mixture and stir to form a shaggy mass. Set this rough dough aside for 30 minutes.
• Knead the dough until it's smooth -- in a bread machine set on the dough cycle, about 2 minutes in a food processor, 6 to 8 minutes by electric stand mixer, or 8 to 10 minutes by hand. Put the dough in a greased bowl, turn it over to coat the entire surface, and cover the bowl. Let the dough rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until it increases in size by at least one-third.
• Filling: If you have a food processor, use it -- it's ideal for this filling. Cube the hard cheese, add the soft cheese, and process until well-mixed but some chunks remain. Add the eggs, flour and seasonings, and pulse just to mix thoroughly. Refrigerate until ready to use.
• If you don't have a food processor, grate the hard cheese, and beat in the soft cheese and eggs. Continue beating, adding the flour and seasonings. Refrigerate until ready to use.
• Shaping and Baking: After the dough has risen, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough in half (you'll be making two loaves), and cut a small (1-ounce) piece of dough off of each half. Round all four pieces of dough into balls, and let them rest, covered, for 15 minutes.
• Roll each large ball into a 10- to 12-inch circle. Place one circle into a lightly greased small pie tin, 8- or 9-inch round cake pan, or onto a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Dollop half of the cheese mixture into the middle of the circle, and pull the dough up around the cheese, folding and pinching it, and "pleating" it into a topknot. Leave a small hole in the very center of the knot, and place the small ball in this hole. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Cover the loaves and let them rise for 45 minutes or longer -- they'll look puffy, but not doubled in size. If the pleats have opened, pinch them shut.
• Bake the loaves in a preheated 375°F oven for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350°F and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes. When finished, the loaves will be golden brown, and the middle should feel set. Tent the loaves with aluminum foil after 15 minutes if they seem to be browning too quickly. Remove the loaves from the oven, and allow them to cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing. Slice the bread into wedges, and serve it warm, or at room temperature.
• *Heat milk until small bubbles form around the edge, and the occasional wisp of steam is evident.
• **Cheese varies greatly in salt content, so taste before adding salt.

Steps:

• For the dough: Lightly oil a medium bowl. Heat the milk with 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan over low heat to between 110 and 115 degrees F. Transfer it to a small bowl and stir in the sugar, then sprinkle over the yeast and let stand until foamy, 5 to 10 minutes. (Cover the bowl if the room or the yeast is cold.)
• Put a pizza stone on the lowest rack in your oven, removing the second rack if there is one. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Cut two 10-by-7-inch pieces of parchment paper.
• Put the flour in a medium bowl and whisk in the salt. Make a well in the center and pour in the yeasty mixture and the oil. Stir with a wooden spoon until the flour is incorporated and the mixture forms a shaggy ball -- it will be soft and sticky. Flour your work surface, scrape the dough onto it and knead until smooth, elastic and still slightly sticky, about 5 minutes. Put the dough in the oiled bowl, turn it to coat with oil and cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap. Set the bowl in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes.
• For the filling and topping: Work the mozzarella and feta together with a fork in a medium bowl. Make a little well in the center and add 1 egg. Beat the egg a bit with a fork, and mix and mash well to combine with the cheeses.
• Lightly flour your work surface. Turn the dough onto the floured surface and cut it in half. Round the halves gently back into rough rounds. Put 1 piece of parchment paper on your work surface and flour it lightly. Press and use a rolling pin to roll 1 piece of dough into a round 1/8-inch thick and 10-inches across. Slide it onto the paper -- it will hang over the long edges -- and then slide it, paper and all, onto the back of a baking sheet. (Alternatively, use a pizza peel.) Repeat with the other piece of dough, transferring it to the back of a second baking sheet.
• Spoon half of the cheese mixture on the first round, spreading some 1/2-inch from the edge and mounding the rest in the middle (there will be a big mound). Roll the sides up tightly to make a shape like a cheese-filled canoe -- it should be about 10 inches long and 4 inches wide. Pinch the ends together and twist to seal tightly. Repeat with the other piece of dough and remaining cheese. Let rest 10 minutes.
• Slide the khachapuris on their papers onto the pizza stone, leaving a few inches of space between them. Bake, turning them 180 degrees after about 8 minutes, until golden and crisp, about 12 minutes total. Crack 1 egg in each khachapuri and continue to bake until the white is just set around the edges, but some of the white and the yolk are still a bit raw, about 3 minutes. Remove to a serving platter, dot each khachapuri with 1 tablespoon butter and stir the eggs into the hot cheese¿they will continue to cook. Serve immediately, tearing off pieces of bread to scoop up the hot, buttery, eggy, gooey cheese.

Steps:

• Make a smooth dough out of the dough ingredients. Use as much flour as needed to keep dough light without it sticking to your hands.
• Leave the dough to rest for 30 minutes.
• Prepare the filling. Grate the mozzarella and then mix with the cream cheese. Add the egg and butter and process into a smooth, glutinous mixture using either a hand mixer or a wooden spoon.
• Season with salt, if needed, and divide into 4 balls.
• Shape the dough into 4 balls also and roll these out to form 8 inch circles.
• Put the cheese filling balls into each dough circle and bring the edges of the dough circle up and over to seal. (Example.like an omelet or a calzone) Press firmly to seal.
• Carefully press the dough flat into a circular shape until each will fill a large skillet.
• Fry individually in hot butter, covered, before turning them and frying the other side, uncovered.
• Cut each flat loaf into 4 portions and serve hot.

Steps:

• Heat the milk to lukewarm (110 to 115 degrees).
• Place a half cup of lukewarm milk in a small bowl and sprinkle the yeast and a half teaspoon of sugar over the milk. Stir to dissolve. Allow to sit for 10 minutes. Stir in the remaining milk.
• Spoon three cups of the flour into a large bowl and make a well in the center. Add the yeast sponge, the remaining sugar and the butter. Stir with a wooden spoon until it is formed into a firm ball of dough.
• Gather up the dough and scraps in the bowl and turn out onto a floured wooden board. Knead for about 10 minutes, adding more of the remaining flour to the surface as needed to prevent the dough from sticking. When the dough is elastic and no longer sticky, place in a greased bowl, turning the dough to grease it. Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and allow to rise until doubled in bulk in a draft-free place, one to one-and-a-half hours.
• Punch the dough down with your fist and allow it to rise again until double in bulk, about 40 minutes.
• While the dough is rising, prepare the cheeses. Grate the mozzarella coarsely, either in a food processor or with a hand grater. Crumble the goat cheese. Mix with egg, slightly beaten.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Punch the dough down and roll out on lightly floured surface to a circle about 20 inches in diameter.
• Fold the dough in quarters and place the point of the dough in the center of a nine-inch pan with an inch-and-a-half to two-inch sides. Unfold the dough, letting the excess hang over the sides. Spoon the cheese mixture onto the dough. Pick up the excess dough hanging over the edges and begin to pleat over the cheese. Make sure all pleats go in the same direction. Gather the ends of the dough in the center and twist into a small knob. Allow the dough to rest 10 minutes.
• Brush the top of the dough with melted butter and bake in the center of the oven for about one hour, or until golden. Allow the bread to cool in the pan, on a cake rack, before serving. The bread may be served warm or at room temperature.

Steps:

• 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.
• For the filling, mix the cheeses with the single egg yolk and use a fork to mash well.
• Preheat the oven to its highest setting and heat a couple of baking sheets-or a pizza stone if you have one.
• 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.
• 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.