This large-format khachapuri is a brilliant way to save time. Instead of making individual khachapuri, Tina—a village doctor, farmer, and the gentlest soul, who lives high up in the mountains of Svaneti in northwest Georgia—makes made this giant version and it works really well.

　　

Ingredients

Makes 1 large khachapuri

　　

Dough

200 g (7 oz) plain yogurt

　　1 egg, lightly beaten

　　2 Tbsp. sunflower oil

　　7 g (¼ oz) fast-acting dried yeast

　　400 g (14 oz) all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting

　　1 tsp. fine sea salt

　　

Cheese Filling

600g (1 lb 5 oz) feta and ricotta, mixed (about half and half) or Suluguni

　　2 eggs (optional)

　　Flaky salt

　　

Glaze

1 egg yolk

　　2 Tbsp. plain yogurt

　　

Step 1

To make the dough, mix the wet ingredients together with the yeast, then mix in the dry ones to make a soft, rather wet dough. Tina, fearlessly, scraped the dough off her hand with the blade of a knife (nothing is wasted). She covers the bowl with a tea towel (or use plastic wrap) and leaves it for a minimum of 2 hours in her warm kitchen until doubled in size.

　　

Step 2

Preheat your oven to its highest temperature.

　　

Step 3

Divide the dough in half. Tina dusts flour on to a 25 x 35 cm (10 x 14 inch) baking tray and puts it on top of her stove to warm up a little. The dough is very, very soft, and she stretches one half of the dough first with her hands and then puts it on to the tray, covering its whole base.

　　

Step 4

If the cheese is lovely and fatty, as it is in Svaneti, they don’t add any eggs. But if your cheese isn’t fatty enough, do add the eggs. If it needs it, add some salt to the cheese, then distribute it evenly all over the base dough.

　　

Step 5

On a well-floured work surface, stretch the remaining dough to the same size of the base dough or as near as possible. Lay it on top of the cheese and make sure you pinch the sides of the two layers of dough together to seal the filling. Mix the egg yolk with the yogurt and use to glaze all over the top, then bake the khachapuri for 20–30 minutes until the top is golden and the dough is cooked through.

　　From Kaukasis © Olia Hercules 2017. Buy the full book from Simon & Schuster or Amazon.