Acharuli Khachapuri

I recently stumbled across this champion of comfort food on twitter and immediately searched the internet for this traditional Georgian cheesy bread. What sealed the deal was seeing how it was eaten. Once cooked the egg is mixed into the melted cheese and pieces of the crust are then used to scoop it all up. The ultimate tear and share!  Not that I'm sharing mine with anyone!

Ingredients
makes 3

for the dough
450g plain flour
12g dried yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
350ml water

for the filling
200g feta (traditionally Sulguni cheese)
200g mild cheddar (traditionally Imeretian cheese)
3 tbsp milk
4 eggs, medium sized
15g butter

Method

Place all the ingredients for the dough in a large mixing bowl and add the warm water. Mix together into a reasonably wet dough. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and leave to rise for a couple of hours. 

Once the dough has risen, sprinkle some more plain flour over it and knock it back gently to form a loose ball. Cover again and leave in the fridge overnight (or 12 hours).

When you're ready to make the Kachapuri add a light dusting of flour to the dough so it's easier to handle and again knock it back gently to form a ball. Turn it out onto a floured surface. Cut the dough into three equal parts.

Prepare the cheese filling by roughly grating the two cheeses, mix them together with a splash of milk to bind them. 

Next roll out a ball of dough, then hand stretch into an oval shape. Roll the edges over twice to create a bit barrier (and a nice crust) and then pinch together the dough at the two ends forming a long boat-like shape.  

Fill the boat with a third of the cheese mix. 

Repeat twice to make two more cheese filled gondolas. 

Pre-heat the oven to 200C and place the kachapuri onto a pizza stone (or a baking tray) and bake for 15-20 minutes until the cheese has melted and begins to colour. 

Separate one egg, keeping the egg  yolk to one side. 

Remove the bread from the oven and brush the egg yolk over the crust. Then with the back of a spoon push down the cheese slightly from the edge.  (This is to stop the egg your about to crack over the cheese from spilling over)

Create a little well and crack an egg into it.  If the egg is large hold back some of the egg white.

Pop the Khachapuri back into the oven for about 3 minutes to cook the egg white but the yolk is still runny. 

Remove from the oven and serve with a 5g-10g slice of butter.   

Eat by mixing the egg yolk into the melted cheese and butter with a spoon, then break pieces of the crust off and dip into the gooey delight.