Khachapuri - general principles and methods of preparation
Khachapuri - Georgian national dish, is a pie or cake made from dough with cheese filling inside. The dough can be any - fresh, yeast, puff. Real dough for khachapuri should be kneaded on yoghurt. But in Russia it is not everywhere you can buy, so sour milk (yogurt), kefir, sour cream will do. Although the amount of flour indicated in the recipe, it may be that it will need more or less. It is necessary to look at the consistency of the dough - it should be soft, it does not need to be very hard to flour.
Different regions of Georgia have their own specialties of making flat cakes. They are made closed on all sides, open, in the form of a boat or in the form of envelopes from puff pastry. For the filling use soft or pickled cheeses - Imeretinsky, cheese, suluguni. Sometimes they are mixed with cottage cheese. Very often chopped greens - parsley, cilantro, dill are added to the filling. At home, khachapuri is baked both in the oven and on the stove in a dry frying pan.
Khachapuri - product preparation
For khachapuri, knead the dough according to the recipe and let it rest, relax. During this time, gluten swells, the dough becomes more pliable, elastic, does not stick to hands. While the dough is resting, this time can be used to heat the oven, if the cakes will be baked there, and to create the filling. If the cheese is very salty, such as cheese, it should first be soaked for two to five hours, depending on the degree of salinity. In order for the cheese to get rid of salt faster, a large piece should be cut into smaller slices, approximately two centimeters thick. Then it is crushed and mixed with greens.
Khachapuri - the best recipes
Recipe 1: Imereti Khachapuri
Hearing that khachapuri is very tasty, will not be enough. They certainly need to try. You should not wait for an invitation to visit, it is better to cook yourself and treat everyone. Pickled or hard cheeses are used for the filling, they can be mixed with cheese or cottage cheese. Greens are not specified in the recipe, but if you wish, you can add any greens to taste to the filling. The dough can be made completely on kefir or in half with sour cream, then it will turn out more tender. Ingredients: hard cheese - 400g, egg. Dough: a glass of kefir, flour - 3 glasses, an egg, a teaspoon of sugar and salt, 2 tbsp. grows oils, 0.5 hl soda, 50g of butter for lubrication.
Method of preparation
In kefir, mix soda, vegetable oil, salt and sugar, and drive an egg. In the mixture add two cups of flour. Knead the mixture, adding the remaining flour. The main thing is not to overdo it with the amount of flour, so that khachapuri would not turn out solid. Knead the dough well. It should turn out to be soft, slightly sticky, but keeping its shape well. Leave it alone for about half an hour, covered with a napkin.
Cheese coarsely grate, enter the egg and mix. If there are greens, you can chop it and add it to the cheese.
To form dough with a long sausage, cut across into 8-10 pieces. Each roll into a cake and put the stuffing. The edges are collected at the top center and well tweaked. Turn the bag over, flatten it with hands and roll out with a rolling pin. Then flip again and re-roll. The main thing is not to push hard so that the dough does not burst. Put the finished tortillas on a dry griddle and bake. They are baked on the stove, on a moderate, closer to the weak, fire. When one side is browned, turn to the other. To be sure that khachapuri were baked, especially if they are thick, they need to be covered with a lid. Grease the finished tortillas.
Recipe 2: Ajarian khachapuri
A special feature of this type of pie is the open top. For the filling use soft, not very salty cheese. Imereti is better, but it is possible Adyghe or other soft brine. The dough is best to knead on yogurt, but if not, you can take sour cream or kefir. If desired, when the khachapuri is baked, you can release a raw egg (chicken or a couple of quail) in its middle and put it in the oven for a moment so that the protein coagulates. The yolk should remain liquid. A broken piece of khachapuri is dipped into it and eaten.
Ingredients: 400g soft cheese, egg and greens. Dough: a glass of sour cream, flour - 3 glasses, butter - 50g, salt - 1 tsp., Soda - 0.5 tsp.
Method of preparation
Crumbling butter into flour, pour soda and salt, pour sour cream and knead the resulting mass for at least 15 minutes, it should be quite plastic. Then leave the dough to rest in the refrigerator for half an hour. Chop up the cheese for the filling - by hand, grated or tolkushkoy. Beat in the egg and add the chopped greens. Taste it, if necessary - dosolit.
Divide the dough in half, each half two more times in half. The result should be 8 pieces. Roll them into small balls. Roll each bun into a flat cake, top with cheese and greens, smooth the filling to the very edges. Now it remains to collect the cake with the filling in the boat. To do this, raise one edge and start folding it into a roll. You only need to walk to the middle. Then from the opposite side to lift the edge and also roll it roll to the middle. Tighten the ends so that the filling does not fall out. So get an open top boat. It remains to bake all the boats in the oven. It takes about 20 minutes at 180-200C. It is not necessary to fry strongly, only lightly browned. You can put butter in a hot boat.
Recipe 3: Megrel khachapuri
A special feature of Megrelian khachapuri is that the filling is laid out not only inside, but also on top of a flat cake, like a pizza, after having pre-coated the surface with an egg. Ingredients are indicated on one large tortilla baked on yeast dough. Instead of cheese suluguni (in Georgia it is called mostly sulguni) you can take not too salty cheese.
Ingredients: Suluguni cheese - 350g, yolk - 1 pc. Dough: 200 ml of water, flour 300g, table sugar, tablespoon salt, teaspoon salt, dry yeast - 1/2 teaspoons, 50g margarine.
Method of preparation
Initially kneaded dough. Add salt and sugar to the water, stir, pour in the yeast and flour, kneading not stiff dough. At the end add softened margarine, knead until smooth and leave to proof for an hour and a half. Cover dishes with a clean napkin or towel.
Cheese coarsely grate. Come knead the dough, roll it into a cake, put the stuffing on it, collect the edges and fix it in the center. Khachapuri roll with a rolling pin on both sides, then make a hole in the middle, with a diameter of 5-7cm. Transfer to a greased or buttered baking tray. The surface of the cake smeared with yolk, so when baking a beautiful crust is formed. Sprinkle the remaining cheese and put the baking tray in the oven for about 20 minutes. It should already be heated (220C).
Recipe 4: Homemade Khachapuri
Homemade khachapuri can be made on the basis of cottage cheese dough. It is convenient because it does not stale for a long time. If the cakes are served on the second day, they need to be heated, because they are most delicious hot. For the filling, you can take any cheese that can be found in the house. Even processed cheese will do.
Ingredients: 300-400g of any cheese or 4 processed cheese, sour cream - 4 tbsp. spoons, greens, 3 cloves of garlic. Dough: a pack of margarine (200g), a pinch of salt, a pack of cottage cheese (200g), 2 eggs, vinegar - an incomplete tablespoon, a soda without a slide a teaspoon, how much flour will take, a yolk for lubrication, some sesame seeds for powder.
Method of preparation
Melt the margarine into a liquid state, salt it, beat the eggs, mix the cottage cheese. Soda to extinguish vinegar (lemon juice), add to the dough. Flour pour enough to knead the dough. At the time the filling is prepared, put the dough in the cold.
Coarsely grate cheese, add sour cream, chopped greens and chopped garlic. If the cheese is not very salty, the filling can be slightly salted.
Divide dough into two approximately equal parts. One roll out on a baking sheet, put all the stuffing. Cover with a second flat cake, pinching in a circle. Brush the top with yolk and sprinkle with sesame. Place the baking tray in the oven and bake for about 50 minutes (180 ° C). Serve, cut into triangles.
Khachapuri - useful tips from experienced chefs
- If you can not buy ready-made yogurt, you can cook it yourself. Heat slightly 3 liters of milk, add a spoonful of two sour cream or kefir, close the lid, wrap a towel. Let it stand for two hours and then transfer to the refrigerator until the mass thickens.
