Khachapuri with Chili Crisp
Melty, tangy cheese...
Fluffy, crispy dough...
A runny egg yolk...
Topped off with Hakka-ish Chili Crisp.
Here's our take on this Georgian classic!
Makes 1 Kachapuri
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:
- 425g all purpose flour
- 300ml warm water
- 7g instant/active yeast
- 8g salt
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 150g Mozzarella (not fresh mozzarella)
- 150g Monterrey Jack
- 150g feta cheese
- 1 egg
- 4 tbsp Hakka-ish Chili Crisp
Method:
Prep!
- First, make the dough. Dissolve the yeast in the water, and set aside for a few minutes. Mix the flour, salt and oil. Pour all the liquid in and mix with a spatula or wooden spoon.
- When the dough has started to come together, ditch the spoon/spatula, and get messy. Knead with your hands, until the dough is smooth and feels taught, and comes away from the edge of the bowl clean. Have a stand mixer? Great, just throw it in there.
- Cover the bowl and leave to rise on the counter until it’s doubled in size. The time will depend on the temperature in your kitchen, usually around 2 hours. If you’re planning ahead, just cover and leave to rise in the fridge overnight.
- Grate all the cheeses, and mix together. Set aside.
- Preheat your oven to 425f. Flour your work surface/chopping board, and turn the dough out onto it. Use your fingers, or a rolling pin. We used our hands, because extra washing up isn't fun, and we had an experienced pizza maker on hand (weird flex?) but either is fine. Stretch or roll the dough until it’s a rectangle, around 14inches x 10 inches. Transfer it onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Now, the fun part. Spread your cheese out, leaving around an inch on each side. Start to roll in from the longer sides, imagine you’re making stuffed crust pizza just like your favourite pizza chain. Now, pull the edges together, and fold them under each other, so it forms a boat shape. A cheese boat, you’ve made a cheese boat.
Oven Time
- Place in the oven for 15 minutes. The cheese will be bubbly, and the crusts will get all puffy and golden, but the fun's not over yet. Pull it out of the oven, make an indentation in the centre with a spoon, and crack an egg in. Place back in the oven for 5 minutes to set the egg. The egg white won’t be fully cooked when you take it out of the oven, but the residual heat in the Khachapuri will keep on cooking it.
- To serve, break the egg yolk, and mix the egg together with all the delicious melted cheese. Spoon over the Hakka-ish, tear a chunk of crust off and dip it. So. Good.
Notes: The cheese most commonly used in traditional Khachapuri is called Sulguni. It melts great, and has a tangy sourness to it, which is why we chose this specific cheese blend as a substitute for it. If you have access to that, feel free to use that instead. Short on time? Feel free to use store bought pizza dough in a pinch.