Stuffed Bread Boats

Do you want to surprise your family and especially children with an original, different and traditional dish from another country? We are talking about the delicious stuffed bread ships. It is a typical recipe from Georgia, a republic of Eastern Europe. Originally this dish is called Adjarian Khachapuri and means Georgian cheese bread.

The Adjarian Khachapuri is popular throughout Georgia. Each region has its own variation, some with cheese on the inside, some with cheese on the outside, some of them with potatoes, some with tomatoes, some with butter… etc. This recipe is used for breakfast and as a snack.

The Georgian stuffed bread boats that we show you in this recipe have an open top, shaped like a gondola.

It is filled with creamy sulguni cheese (like mozzarella) and is baked until the dough is golden brown and the cheese is practically melted. A fresh egg is dropped on top and then gratinated briefly before the grand finale – a good dollop of butter.

Georgian Stuffed Bread Boats or Adjarian Khachapuri

Ingredients

For the dough (for 2 cheese loaves)

• 500 g of flour
• 1/2 tablespoon yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
• 1/3 cl of water
• 1/2 cl of whole milk
• 1 egg
• 5 teaspoons of vegetable oil

Ingredients for the stuffing

• 1 egg
• 200g grated cheese (if you can’t find salguni cheese, any salty cream cheese like mozzarella, havarti, fontina or talleggio would work)
• 1 egg yolk
• Black pepper
• Chopped parsley
• Butter

Preparation

Preparation of the dough

• Heat the water and milk in a saucepan. Remove from heat and sprinkle with yeast and sugar. Let it sit for 10 minutes until it bubbles and turns into a cream.
• In a small bowl, mix the egg and oil.

• Put the flour in a large bowl and create a hole in the center. Add the egg and oil mixture, plus the yeast mixes with the water and milk.
• Using a wooden spoon, mix from the middle out. Once it gets a little difficult to remove, use your fingers and knead well.
• Put the dough on the counter and continue kneading until you get a homogeneous dough and begins to soften.
• Place the dough back into the large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and then a kitchen towel. Put in a warm place and let it rest for at least 2 hours, until doubled in size.

Preparation of the filling

• In a bowl, mix the grated cheese with 1 egg. Set aside.
• Beat the egg yolk in a small bowl and set aside with a pastry brush.

Mounting

• Preheat the oven to 260 ºC.
• Divide the dough in two. At this point, each piece of dough can be tightly wrapped in plastic and frozen for other days.
• To make 1 boat of stuffed bread, gently knead a portion of dough for a couple of minutes until smooth. Shape into a ball and let stand covered for 10 minutes. You can only rotate it on top of it.
• On a floured surface, roll out each piece of dough, about the size of a football (an oval with dots on each end). Put the dough on a lightly floured baking sheet.
• Pour the filling in the center of the dough. Spread leaving a 4-centimeter border in all places, so that it does not overflow.
• Fold the edges of the dough inwards overlapping the cheese. To seal each end, first press a flap of dough from one side to the inside.
• Brush the top of that dough fin, with a little of the egg yolk. Press the flap of the opposite dough on top of the egg to seal. Repeat with the other end. Once this is done, the cheese bread should be in the shape of the aforementioned gondola.

• Bake the stuffed bread boats for 12 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven. Glaze the bread with the egg yolk.
• Break the remaining egg into a bowl, then slowly slide the egg into the center of the cheese. Bake for another 3-4 minutes.
• Remove from the oven, cover with a little butter and serve immediately. Sprinkle a pinch of chopped parsley and freshly ground black pepper on top.