Traditional khachapuri adjaruli: the boat-shaped Georgian bread filled with cheese, egg and butter

Khachapuri, cheese bread in Georgian, is Georgia's national dish, and every region has its shape. The one from Adjara, the province on the Black Sea, is the most famous: a canoe of dough with twisted ends, full of melted cheese, that receives a raw egg and a knob of butter as soon as it leaves the oven. They say the boat represents the fishermen's boats, and the egg with butter, the sun over the sea.

The ritual of eating is part of the dish: the egg and butter are stirred into the hot cheese with a fork, the ends of the bread are torn off and dipped in the middle, until only the hull of the boat is left. It is street food, bakery food and family-table food, and it goes down with a glass of Georgian amphora wine.

Georgian cheeses, sulguni and imeruli, are hard to find outside the country. A blend of mozzarella, feta and a little ricotta or cream cheese comes close: sulguni is stretchy and salty, imeruli is fresh and tangy. The dough is ordinary bread dough, lightly enriched.

Recipe card

• Origin: Adjara, Georgia
• Category: Filled bread, main course or snack
• Difficulty: Medium
• Preparation time: 40 minutes (plus 1 hour 30 minutes of rising)
• Oven time: 20 minutes
• Serves: 4 khachapuri

Ingredients — dough

• 500 g wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 250 ml warm milk
• 50 ml warm water
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 egg

Ingredients — filling

• 300 g coarsely grated mozzarella
• 200 g crumbled feta
• 100 g ricotta or cream cheese
• 4 eggs
• 4 knobs of butter (20 g each)
• 1 beaten egg yolk for brushing

Method

1. Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm milk and water and wait 10 minutes, until foamy.
2. Mix the flour and salt, add the liquid, oil and egg and knead for 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Cover and let rise for 1 hour, until doubled.
3. Mix the mozzarella, feta and ricotta.
4. Divide the dough into 4, shape into balls and let rest for 15 minutes.
5. Roll each ball into a 25 x 18 cm oval. Roll the two long edges inward, forming the sides of the boat, and twist the ends together, pinching firmly.
6. Transfer to lined baking sheets, brush the edges with the yolk and fill the center with the cheese.
7. Bake in an oven preheated to 240 °C for 15 minutes, until the dough is golden and the cheese bubbles.
8. Remove, make a well in the cheese with a spoon, crack an egg into each boat and return to the oven for 2 minutes, just for the white to begin to set while the yolk stays raw.
9. Place the knob of butter on the egg and serve immediately, to mix at the table.

Tips and variations

• The yolk should stay raw: it cooks as it is mixed into the hot cheese.
• Grated halloumi or a firm salty white cheese instead of feta gives a different but equally good flavor.
• Khachapuri imeruli is the closed round disc with cheese inside, the most common in Georgia.
• The dough can be made the day before and rise in the fridge.
• A pizza stone or preheated baking sheet makes the bottom crispier.
• A small 12 cm version makes a good party appetizer.
• Serve with a salad of tomato, cucumber and walnuts, the classic Georgian salad.

Khachapuri adjaruli is bread, cheese, egg and butter, the happiest quartet in Caucasian cooking. Mix it at the table, tear off the ends and understand why Georgia adores it.