Khachapuri Megrelian - delicious flat cakes with cheese

Georgian cuisine is famous for its variety. Many of her dishes glorified Georgia throughout the world. Satsivi, chahokhbili, khinkali and other dishes like to cook in many countries. Nevertheless, khachapuri is the hallmark of Georgian cuisine. The history of this baking originates in the Middle Ages. Once the women of one of the distant mountain villages in Imereti decided to experiment with baking bread and put into the dough not the cheese or the curd crumbs. As a result, the Georgian pie came out khachapuri. Its name was formed from the confluence of two words - "puri", which in Georgian means "bread", and "hacho" - "cottage cheese".

Pride of Georgian cuisine

Despite the lack of a single recipethe preparation of these pies and the fact that each region prepares them in its own way, the main condition for khachapuri is that there should be a lot of cheese in it: almost the same volume as the dough. A nice ruddy cake with cheese filling is called today in Georgia "khachapuri-imeruli". But in Megrelia, the love of cheese led to the fact that at the insistence of their men the hostesses began not only to put the cheese inside the pie, but also sprinkled them on top. So there was a famous recipe - "Khachapuri in Megrelian". You could call it "spotted cake", because when baking cheese crumbs turn more red than the cheese-free surface, and the spotting effect appears. But in Soviet times only two kinds of khachapuri were known: from the puff pastry folded up by the envelope, and the Ajaria cheese cake in the form of a boat with a "glazunya" in the middle. Khachapuri from puff pastry in Georgia is called "foam". And not simple, but yeast puff pastry is taken. But in neighboring Armenia bake air khachapuri in the form of a triangle, a square or a rectangle of bezdozhezhevogo puff pastry. They are also very tasty and mouth-watering in appearance. However, Armenians probably will have to rename this batch, since Georgia has patented both khachapuri in Megrelian, and in Imeretian, and in Adzharian, and several dozen of their national dishes, and even chacha. And those who cook these dishes not from the products fixed in patents, will be forced to pay a fine.

Khachapuri is Megrelian. Recipe

Of course, the penalty is due to those who preparekhachapuri for commercial purposes, for us, simple housewives, this prohibition, of course, does not apply, so you can improvise. Nevertheless, I want to present you a classic recipe for khachapuri in Megrelian.

Cooking dough

For this we need:

• 1 teaspoon (300 g) of warm milk (you can water);
• 15-20 g dry yeast;
• 20 g (1 tablespoon) of granulated sugar;
• 1 tsp. salts;
• 4 tbsp. spoons of sunflower oil or 40-50 g of margarine or butter in melted form;
• 2.5 -3 mugs (the same as milk was measured) flour.

Cooking method

In a bowl, pour boiled and cooled to 32-34degrees milk, in it to dissolve yeast and sugar, shake whisk and leave for 12-15 minutes. Then add the sifted flour and salt to the bowl and mix the dough, at the very end add oil. From the dough to form a bun and place it in a spacious plastic bag, open the open knot with a knot and leave in a warm place for 1 hour. Then, without untying the bundle, stretch the bag (lower the dough) and wait another 30 minutes.

Cooking stuffing

300-400 grams of cheese (you can use suluguni,soft cheese of Imereti, cheese, even "Russian" cheese, Armenian homemade cheeses) to wipe through a large grater or mash with a fork, if necessary add slightly softened butter (if cheese is low-fat), 1 egg and stir well. If the cheese is completely fresh, then you can salt it.

We prepare khachapuri in Megrelian style

The dough is removed from the bag, slightly mashed andhelp rollers form on the table a cake 30 cm in diameter, pre-sprinkled with flour. Lubricate it with cheese filling. Protopyvaem ends and form a large patty with a seam in the middle. Place the seam with flour, round off the ends, squeezing it from the sides, turning the seam down. Using a rolling pin, carefully roll out a round cake, again with a diameter of 30 cm. Carefully shift it onto a greased baking sheet. In a cup, shake 1 egg and pour it on a flat cake, spreading over the entire surface. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Leave to stand for 10-15 minutes. Puncture with a fork in several places and oven in a heated to 200 degrees oven for 15-20 minutes. That's all, ruddy, fragrant and damn delicious Georgian ketchup pie is Megrelian ready. Enjoy your meal.

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