What do you need on the first day of a new year, after a night of revelry? Hot bread, hot cheese and a runny egg, preferably in one neat, boat-shaped package and with a name that’s hard to pronounce when you’re hungover. Enter acharuli khachapuri, a delicious Georgian savoury bake that has it all: sweet, soft bread topped with salty, melted cheese and an egg cooked just so. Traditionally, a big pat of butter is placed on top, too, as if the whole thing is not rich enough already. To eat, rip off the tip of the bread boat and use it to break the yolk and mix it into the hot cheese. The first bite is the best, so savour it, then carry on ripping off the crust and dipping it in the centre until there’s none left. Roll the remains into a cheesy, doughy cigar and tuck in. Start the year as you mean to go on – it’s going to be a good one.
Acharuli khachapuri
Prep 10 min
Prove 55 min
Cook 45 min
Serves 4
For the dough
130ml milk
1 tsp sugar
1 sparse tsp (5g) fast-action dried yeast, or 10g fresh
1 tbsp olive oil
350g strong flour
½ tsp table salt
For the filling
100g feta, crumbled
200g hard mozzarella, grated
5 eggs
Mix 130ml just-boiled water with the milk in a bowl (use an electric mixer with a dough hook, if possible, though it can, of course, also be mixed and kneaded by hand, if need be). Add the sugar, yeast and oil, and mix again to dissolve. Add half the flour, mix well, then add the salt and mix again. Add the rest of the flour a little at a time, until it’s all incorporated and you’re left with quite a wet dough. Knead for about five minutes, until it comes together into a smooth, shiny ball – the dough should be quite soft, but not at all sticky – then cover and leave to prove for 40 minutes.
In a bowl, mix the cheeses with one of the eggs. Heat the oven to 240C (220C fan)/475F/gas 9, and line two oven trays with baking paper. Put the dough on a floured surface, then divide into four equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rough, 25cm-long x 12cm-wide oval, then put two pieces of the dough on each oven tray, leaving a gap between them.
Divide the cheese mix equally and put in the centre of each piece of dough, leaving a wide rim all around the edge, then smooth out the top. Fold the bare edges of dough inwards, to make a thick border to contain the cheese mix and create the crust, then pinch together the two narrow ends to create a pointy boat shape. Leave to rest for another 15 minutes.
Bake in the hot oven for 10-12 minutes, until the crusts are nice and golden, then remove. Crack open and separate the remaining eggs, use a shell to make a little well in the filling of each boat, then drop a yolk into each well (save the whites for something else). Return the khachapuris to the oven for two to three minutes, just to give the yolks time to set slightly – you don’t want them overcooked, just warm.
Serve hot, with a small pat of butter on top of each one, if you like, though we prefer chilli flakes or lots of chilli sauce.
Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich are chefs/co-owners of the Honey & Co group of restaurants, cafes and delis. Their latest venture, Honey & Co Daily, recently opened in London WC1
