Perfect khachapuri cheese bread recipe

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You won't stop munching this Khachapuri

When you talk about a yeast pastry filled with lots of cheese, you know it's bound to be decadent.
Hachapuri is a traditional Georgian pastry that comes in many shapes and names, all, of course, filled with goodness.
I have decided to make a recipe of Acharuli Khachapuri that came out amazing! The recipe includes a step by step tutorial.

 

I love trying dishes from different cuisines. The Georgian cuisine is one of the kitchens that I know very little of, and I believe Khachapuri (also spelled as Hachapuri) is the only dish I'm familiar with from that kitchen.
This delight is a very popular traditional Georgic dish of bread stuffed with cheese, and in every region of Georgia, you can find many shapes and different preparation methods of Khachapuri.

The word Khachapuri comes from two words - Chacu which means skim cheese and puri which means bread.
Acharuli comes from Batumi from the Achra district, and it is shaped like a boat filled with good things.
The traditional Acharuli is served in a dough boat with a sunny side up on top. However, I decided to skip the egg part, and I got an excellent tasty good looking pastry that even if you are on a diet and counting calories, you can enjoy this one every now and then.

So how exactly it is healthier than other Hachapuri?
I intentionally used low-fat cheese, and instead of using mozzarella that usually stars in this kind of recipes, I used low-fat slices of cheese in a much saner way.
You just don't understand how good this came out. I got a beautiful warm pastry that had that melted stretchy cheese, and it was just divine!

This recipe is perfect for Shavuot holiday or any other holiday, and of course, it is just perfect for breakfast and dinner. It's kind of like a dairy light meal with an upgraded bread and cheese :-)
The Khachapuri was delicious the day after too, but it is highly recommended to serve it warm straight from the oven (careful it's hot).

Ingredients for 8 Khachapuri pastries:
3 cups flour
1 Tbsp. dry yeast
1/2 Tbsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup water

Filling:
250-gram low-fat feta or Bulgarian cheese (I used 5% Hemed cheese, if you have in your area it is preferred)
200-gram low-fat cream cheese (I used 5% fat)
100-gram low-fat slices of cheese, cut into small pieces (I used 15% fat)
1 L egg

Egg wash:
1 egg
A bit of water

Directions:
Place in the mixer bowl the flour and yeast and mix. Add in the sugar and salt and mix well. Add the oil and water and knead on medium-low power (I knead on level 2) for 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Take the dough out of the bowl and knead a bit with greased hands. Transfer to a greased bowl and set aside, covered, to rise for an hour.
Towards the end of baking, turn on the oven at 180C/356F, turbo and mix the filling ingredients together in a separate bowl.

Transfer the dough to a work surface and knead for 2 minutes to take a bit of the air bubbles out. Form into a round and cut into eight equal parts.
Roll each part into an oval (ellipse) shape and transfer to the baking pan so it will be easier to work.
Fill each ellipse with the filling and close into a boat (tighten the edges well).

Set the boats a bit close to one another so they will support each other to maintain their shapes.
After you filled each boat, let them rise covered for 15 minutes. Then if the edges have opened a bit, tighten again and brush with the egg wash.

Transfer to the oven for 15 minutes of baking at the upper or middle rack of the oven (you know where it is best to bake pastries in your own oven :-) ) and after 15 minutes, turn the oven to 200C/392F and bake for extra 5-10 minutes. If you want to add the egg, now is the time. Before you continue to bake, take out of the oven and pour an egg to the top of each pastry to get that authentic Achruli Khachapuri look with a sunny side up).
Serve right away, careful it is hot!
For more explicit instructions, watch the attached video and enjoy!