Ema Tukhiashvili

The Georgian culinary masterpiece is compared to ‘Calzone’.

If you ask any foreign guest who arrives in Georgia to estimate Georgian cuisine, first of all, I’m sure, they will start lauding khachapuri. At a glance, there is nothing special in it – cheese, bread and some ingredients according to the cook’s taste but khachapuri took Georgia’s glory beyond its boundaries. In many countries with Georgian emigrants, Georgian bakeries of khachapuri function successfully and they have no lack of consumers. 

Italians say that the Georgian bread with cheese resembles Italian calzone but unlike it we have at least five or six types of khachapuri. This treasury of Georgian cuisine originated in Western Georgia. Traditional khachapuri is made of yeast- added wheat flour dough to which some milk and salt is also sprinkled. Inside it there is mashed, unsalted cheese made of cow-milk. But in different parts of Georgia they bake khachapuri of different shape and taste. And typically, each district praises its khachapuri. But it’s better to taste it once than hear about it dozens of times.

Nona Lomidze (inhabitant of Imereti, a region of Western Georgia): Imereti is the motherland of khachapuri and the best khachapuri is baked exactly in this part of Georgia. Dough is mixed with matsoni (Georgian yoghurt). 1 kg of flour needs at least two cups of matsoni. For this volume of dough about 1 kg of fatty cheese is required. The Imeretian khachapuri has the shape of full moon and it’s baked in the fireplace in a clay pan. When done, you can apply some butter or ghee and enjoy it’,

Excellent khachapuri is baked in Samegrelo (a region of Western Georgia). According to my Mengrelian host, they often make khachapuri from green cheese or new sulguni – a kind of Georgian cheese made according to different technology and having distinguished taste. ‘In the course of time the technology of baking khachapuri has changed in Samegrelo as well. Earlier the dough was mixed only on water and salt but nowadays some fat and milk is also added. Accordingly, the dough is more fluffy and tasty. The inside of Mengrelian khachapuri is made of new sulguni. The dough is packed and flattened and some cheese is sprinkled or slices of sulguni are applied on top. Some people even pour beaten up egg yolk. Afterwards the khachapuri is being baked in a closed fireplace. Nothing can compare with Mengrelian khachapuri, it’s the king of all khachapuri’, explains Lia Nachkebia, my Mengrelian hostess, cutting the newly-baked khachapuri into big slices.

Ajarian khachapuri has different shape and taste. In the Black-sea-part of Georgia the bread with cheese has the shape of a boat. It mustn’t be a simple coincidence. The inside of khachapuri with this outline is made of cheese with eggs. Some time before it’s baked, the Ajarian khachapuri is taken out of the oven, egg yolk and white is put into it and returned to the oven for 2-3 minutes more. According to taste some butter can be added to the baked khachapuri. Georgians as well as foreign tourists who at least once visited Ajara know that besides the ‘standard’ khachapuri in many places of public catering they bake gigantic khachapuri named after the ill-fated ‘Titanic’.

Khachapuri is also baked in Svaneti, Georgian highland. Although the traditional Svanetian dish is kubdari – sliced meat baked in the wheat- flour dough, it tastes fine. To the cheese prepared for khachapuri,  Svans add some species or millet seed.

Marina Daushvili (dweller of Racha): ‘In Racha (Georgian highland region), they call khachapuri as ‘Brachuli’. The khachapuri of this region is of square shape. Usually it’s baked of yeast-added flour but in the inside, chopped boiled egg is added to the cheese. Before it’s done, yolk is spread on top of khachapuri. It’s baked in a’ ketsi’ (a flat pan made of clay).

Khachapuri is aso baked in Kartli - midland of Georgia. It’s true that dwellers of this region can’t boast of having khachapuri of different name or shape but the technology of baking is differentiated indeed. Here khachapuri is baked in tohne (big, clay semi-barrels fixed in the ground for baking bread). The bread with cheese baked on vine twig trimmings glowing in tohne has indeed a really distinguished taste.

In Georgia there are some more, relatively modern types of khachapuri characteristic for every part of the country. For instance, sliced khachapuri; it is very popular with Georgian consumers. It is sold in almost every corner in bakeries and places of public catering in Tbilisi. Achma is one of the varieties of khachapuri, decoration of Georgian table. It’s rather effortful for baking and is made of thin, flattened, fat-added boiled dough. The dough is placed in the pan slice-on-top-slice with a lot of chopped cheese in-between.

You can take Khachapuri along with alcoholic drinks, traditional Georgian wine or cooled soft drinks. You can serve it hot in order to retain its original taste.