Those Cakes We Like ... Are Taking A Midnight Plane To Georgia

No, not the State. This is an MTG free zone.

Kutaisi, Capital of the Imereti region of Georgia. Image courtesy of Unsplash.

Would you believe me if I told you it’s been 10 years since I last had a holiday (or “vacation” for all of you on the other side of the Atlantic)? I don’t get to travel much, mostly because finding pet care is kind of expensive. I’m not about to let a little thing like that prevent me from exploring the world though, not when I can re-create the food of the world in my own kitchen. To that end, I have decided to defy the technocrats of the world and reclaim the internet for the purpose for which it was intended — to expand access to information and culture, and thus, to bring the world closer together. It has long been said that nothing brings people together more than food. With that aim in mind, I’m starting something new: I’m making it my mission to re-create a baking recipe from as many cultures as I can, with the aim of travelling around the world through my baking — cheaper, and more environmentally sustainable than travelling by plane.

For my first excursion, we’re heading to the Caucasus in Eastern Europe, to the beautiful country of Georgia, formerly part of the USSR. Their national dish is Khachapuri, a leavened bread stuffed with cheese.

Georgia spans from the Caucasus mountiains to the Black Sea and is the meeting point of East and West, ancient and modern. Images courtesy of Unsplash.

A Slice Of History

Khachapuri has a very long history, dating to at least the 11th Century, and possibly even further back than that. One school of thought is that Khachapuri is actually a precursor to pizza and arrived in Georgia via the Byzantine empire. There are no significant historical events tied directly to the origins of Khachapuri, however, its reputed 11th century origin coincides with the Georgian Renaissance, a period of cultural prosperity which predated the European Renaissance by around 300 years. There is just something perfect about the idea that a cultural Renaissance coincided with eating hot cheese stuffed bread, it’s just so incredibly ... human. One of the central figures of the Georgian Renaissance is Tamar the Great, who ruled as Georgia’s first female monarch from 1184 to 1213, overseeing a period of military, cultural, and economic growth which led to the saying that in Georgia the peasants lived like nobles, the nobles lived like princes, and the princes lived like kings.

Oh look... A female ruler who oversaw a Golden Age for her country. Has Donnie's head exploded yet?

Tamar is a fascinating figure, having overcome the resistance of the Georgian nobility to the idea of a female ruler to eventually become one of the most successful monarchs the country had ever seen. Tamar’s position as ruler was secured in part through the pragmatic actions of her father, George III, who made her co-ruler during the later years of his reign to secure the succession after dealing with a rebellion of the nobility and an attempt to replace him as king with his fraternal nephew, Demna. George’s way of dealing with this attempted coup was gruesome and effective; the noble who led the coup, Ivane Orbeli, was executed, and then George had Demna castrated and blinded to extinguish his line and prevent future insurrection attempts. Demna did not survive this mutilation, dying in prison soon after it was carried out.

There are many varieties of Khachapuri as each region of Georgia has its own variety. For this recipe, I’ll be making the most widespread version, Imeruli Khachapuri, a fairly simple variety from the Imereti region of western Georgia. Making the traditional version of this recipe requires access to two varieties of Georgian cheese which are almost impossible to find outside of Georgia, however the cheeses in question (Imeruli cheese, and Sulguni) can be approximated by combining Mozzarella and Feta. This combination creates an almost cottage cheese-like texture, if this is not a texture you find palatable, I’d suggest using just Mozzarella for the filling.

For fellow members of the Dead Pancreas Society, your total carbohydrates for this recipe are 166.5g for the whole recipe, it will comfortable serve 4 at 41.6g of carbohydrates per portion.

Your Equipment

Digital kitchen scales

Large mixing bowl or stand mixer with dough hooks

Medium mixing bowl

Baking tray

Cheese grater

Your Ingredients

All this, plus an egg and a little butter (I forgot to include them in the photo).

200 g All-purpose flour

100 ml Milk (lukewarm)

1 tsp / 4 g Salt

1 tsp / 4 g Fast-acting yeast

Up to 50 ml water (lukewarm)

2 tsp Oil (vegetable or sunflower oil is ideal)

150 g Mozzarella (not pre-grated)

50 g Feta

20g Butter

1 Egg

Melted butter to brush over the finished Khachapuri

The Important Bit

Combine the dry ingredients of the bread dough (200 g flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp yeast) in your mixing bowl or stand mixer, then add the milk (100 ml). Bring together using your hands, or with the dough hooks on a low speed, then slowly add water until the dough comes together (how much water you need will depend on the flour you are using, it is unlikely you’ll need the full 50 ml).

Knead your dough on a lightly floured surface for at least 5 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. The easiest way to do this is to stretch out the dough by using the heel of your hand to push down into the centre of the dough and push it away from you, then fold it back onto itself, turn the dough 90 degrees and repeat. Alternatively, using the stand mixer and dough hooks on a low speed (1 or 2 is perfect) for around 7 or 8 minutes will achieve the correct consistency.

Lightly grease the dough with your oil, place in the mixing bowl, cover and leave to rise for at least an hour. Ideally, the dough should double in size.

Once your dough has finished rising, grate your cheese (150g mozzarella and 50g feta or 200g mozzarella) and butter (30g), place in the medium mixing bowl and combine them with the egg.

Grate your cheese and butter, then mix with the egg.

Roll out your bread dough into a circle with a diameter of roughly 20cm (just under eight inches). Roll the edge to form a lip.

Form the cheese, butter and egg mixture into a ball using your hands and place it in the centre of your circle of dough and fold the dough over until it fully encases the cheese. Dust your baking tray lightly with a little flour. Now turn over the dough encased cheese, very carefully as you don’t want to tear the dough, place it in the centre of the baking tray and gently roll it out until it is a disc, roughly 1.5 to inches thick. Leave to rest for 10 minutes. Alternatively, divide both the dough and the cheese mixture into 4 and make individual Khachapuri.

Position your cheese, cover with dough, then flip it over and roll it out.t

Preheat your oven to 390F / 200C. Place the Khachapuri into the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

Remove the Khachapuri from the oven and brush the top with melted butter. Leave to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

This Georgian delicacy makes a great light lunch, just pair it with a vegetable salad. Alternatively, just enjoy it as a delicious, hot snack — exactly as it is served in Georgia.

I may have left mine to cool a little too long, ideally you want hot, molten cheese that spills out of the bread casing.

I’ll be back next month, when, by special request of Mr Cakes, I’ll be taking a trip to Italy and making Cannoli.

Until then...

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