Tips for Making Foodwishes.com Khachapuri Adjaruli (Georgian Cheese Bread)
Welcome back! I'm glad you found your way here, especially after my prolonged hiatus from this blog at a time when we're living the most interesting year of our lives! But hey, if there's one thing to thank 2020 for, it's for helping to throw me back into my passions and personal pursuits — one of which is cooking food from around the world.
Today I give you this beautiful duck egg and white cheese bread from Georgia (the country, not US state).
The Black Sea and bordering countries have been on my travel bucket list for some time. And with today's travel restrictions, it seems fitting that we eat to take us to places we've been and to those we have not.
This cheese boat, white cheese-filled crusted bread, is the ultimate Georgian comfort food. And will instantly throw you into postprandial somnolence (a.k.a. a food coma) dreaming about that 5,865-mile flight from Chicago to Tbilisi.
But trust me, it is worth every last piece. After all, once or more in a quarantine moon, it is okay to fully indulge and eat your share of pretty bad-for-you things, especially sitting there in your stretchy pants with nowhere to be.
I used Chef John's recipe from Foodwishes.com with minor changes and notes from two unintended tests because I made too much dough—which leads me to my first tip, only make half of the recipe if you are making this for two people.
Click here for the full recipe and read the rest of my tips here for flawless results:
I used a two-cheese blend (instead of 3 noted in the recipe). The mix I used was a full-fat chihuahua and Greek feta — 50/50 blend for the first bake (and thought it was too much feta) and then 80/20, respectively. If you try this blend, go with 60/40 because the chihuahua gets greasy and the oil pools making it challenging to nest-in your eggs. Next time, I plan to mix it up and use Bulgarian feta, as it is creamier and milder than Greek feta, combined with full-fat low moisture mozzarella. I only used what I had on hand and encourage you to do the same for your first try—unless you only have low cheese fat (throw that sh*t away and go to the store to get good ingredients. This is no time to half-ass it.). Use full fat cheeses and make sure you GYOC (grate your own cheese). Trust me; you'll thank me for the melty goodness. Read about why you should GYOC here.
Trust what John tells you in the recipe. The dough will be very wet. You need to WEIGH YOUR FLOUR. The problem is, the recipe uses measuring cups and not weight but it is SO IMPORTANT TO WEIGH YOUR FLOUR. (Even if John eventually updates the recipe, read on.) You'll need 250 grams of flour to mix the ingredients and add about another 30 grams on the bench as you knead the bread (270-280 total grams of flour). The dough will be very wet and will stick to your hands (at first) if you do it right. Be super careful not to add too much flour as you knead. That was my first mistake, and I had to start over. Only lightly add flour until it stops sticking to your fingers.
I allowed the dough to rise in the fridge for 24 and 48 hours before using. I split the dough into two pies (as suggested) and baked one after 24 hours rising in the fridge and then again at 48 hours. I also used an egg wash on the first bake. I preferred the taste and texture of 48-hour rise and no egg wash, but the look of the dough with the egg wash was prettier (see results pictured below and decide for yourself). Make sure you allow your dough to get up to room temp for at least an hour on your counter (covered) before forming and shaping if you take this approach. Then, after your boat is shaped and filled, cover and let rest again for 30 minutes before putting it into the oven.
I used two duck eggs (instead of one chicken egg because my husband and I split a boat). If you know me, you know my obsession with duck eggs. They are the best. If you are a yolk dunker, you'll love duck eggs, too. The yolks are bigger and taste so much richer than chicken eggs. I prepared a bowl with one whole egg, including the white and yolk, and only the second egg's yolk. If you crack your eggs into a bowl before dropping them onto your cheese bowl at the 15-minute baking mark (noted in the recipe), it is much easier to get them centered in the cheese bowl. Using only one egg white also prevents the bowl from overflowing.
Finally, I topped the dish with Aleppo pepper and coarse sea salt after removing it from the oven. But use whatever pepper you like!
Bake 1 after 24 hours of slow rising and egg wash
Bake 2 after 48 hours of rising
This bread is much easier to make than it looks, especially when you prep the dough in advance. Give it a try and leave a comment below to let me know how it goes.
Enjoy! And hopefully, one day soon, we'll be traveling again, and I'll find my way to a Georgian kitchen table.