Adjaruli Khachapuri (Georgian Cheese & Egg Bread Boats)

Ingredients

For 2 portions

• 🌾 300g bread flour
• 🥄 5g yeast
• 🍚 1 Tsp sugar
• 🧂 0.75 Tsp salt
• 🥛 180ml milk, whole
• 🏺 2 Tbsp sunflower oil
• 🧀 250g mozzarella cheese
• 🧀 150g feta cheese
• 🍳 1 large egg
• 🍳 2 large egg yolk
• 🧈 30g butter

Method

1. Makes 2 large boats.
2. Dough: mix the bread flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a bowl. Add the lukewarm milk and oil and knead for 8–10 minutes until smooth and elastic (or 5 minutes in a stand mixer). Cover and leave to rise for 1 hour until doubled.
3. Filling: grate the mozzarella and crumble the feta into a bowl. Beat the whole egg and mix half of it into the cheese (keep the rest for brushing). Traditional sulguni and imeruli cheese are hard to find outside Georgia – this mozzarella-feta mix is the classic substitute.
4. Preheat the oven as hot as it goes, 240–250 °C (220–230 °C fan), with a baking tray inside.
5. Divide the dough in two. On a piece of baking paper, roll each into an oval about 30 x 20 cm.
6. Roll the two long sides in towards the centre, leaving a 7–8 cm wide gap in the middle. Pinch and twist the two ends together firmly to make a pointed boat shape.
7. Fill the hollow centre of each boat with the cheese mixture, pressing it in. Brush the dough edges with the rest of the beaten egg.
8. Slide the paper onto the hot tray and bake for 12–15 minutes until the crust is deep golden and the cheese is bubbling.
9. Take out of the oven, make a well in the cheese with a spoon and drop an egg yolk into each one. Return to the oven for 1–2 minutes – just until the yolk is warm but still runny.
10. Add a knob of butter to each and serve immediately. To eat, stir the yolk and butter into the hot cheese and tear off pieces of crust to dip.