Georgian Flatbreads: Lobiani, Kubdari And Mchadi, Step By Step Recipes With Photos

2025 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2025-01-23 12:41

Pampering the family: preparing Georgian cakes with filling

Georgian cuisine is rich in delicious and original dishes. Flatbreads are one of the traditional dishes that are served both on the festive table and for everyday meals. With and without filling, yeast and unleavened, mchadi, lobiani and kubdari - you should definitely cook mouth-watering and hearty Georgian flatbreads to pamper your family.

Content

• 1 Lobiani

  1.1 Video: lobiani from Irina Khlebnikova

• 2 Kubdari

  2.1 Video: kubdari from Daniil Pervachenko

• 3 Classic mchad

Lobiani

Lobiani - delicate Georgian tortillas stuffed with beans. The dish is inexpensive, but very tasty and aromatic. They should be prepared for the family table to pamper the family and diversify the meal.

Lobiani Ingredients:

• 0.5 kg of white beans;
• 1 onion;
• 3 tbsp. l. vegetable oil;
• 100 g butter for the filling and 1 tbsp. l. to lubricate the lobiani;
• 1 chicken egg;
• 0.5 kg of wheat flour;
• 1 glass of kefir;
• 1 tsp dry fast-acting yeast;
• 1 tbsp. l. Sahara;
• 1 tsp dry green cilantro;
• 2 tbsp. l. vegetable oil;
• salt and black pepper to taste.

Lobiani recipe:

1. Soak white beans in cold water overnight.

   

   White beans taste softer than red beans

2. Boil until soft, adding dry cilantro to the water.

   

   Cilantro will make the beans taste spicier when cooked.

3. Mash the beans with a mashed potato crush and butter. The oil will melt and saturate the beans, making them juicy and flavorful. Then mix the filling with onions fried in hot oil and salt. The filling should be salty.

   

   Fry onions until golden brown

4. Add an egg, sugar, salt and black pepper to kefir.

   

   It is better to take an egg with a bright yolk

5. Sift flour.

   

   Sifting flour oxygenates it

6. Add it to the egg-kefir mixture along with yeast and salt. Knead a tender homogeneous dough and leave in a warm place to rise for 1.5-2 hours.

   

   The dough should increase in volume and become "fluffy"

7. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts. Roll each into a cake.

   

   To prevent the dough from sticking to the table during rolling, you can put parchment under it

8. Put one quarter of the filling in the middle of the cake. Gather the edges over the middle and pinch them. You should get a bun of dough filled with beans and onions.

   

   Make sure the edges are pinched tightly, otherwise the filling will fall out when rolling

9. Turn the lobiani over and flatten with the palm of your hand. It is important here that the dough does not break at the edges and the integrity of the cake is not broken. Therefore, you need to level the bun with the filling with gentle movements with light pressure.

   

   Elastic kefir dough makes it easy to work with

10. After 10 minutes, the cake will increase in diameter and become flat. In this case, the edges must remain intact, without cracks or breaks.

    

    Stretch the dough in different directions, preventing the dough from breaking

11. Place the lobiani on a baking sheet greased with vegetable oil and bake at 220 ° C for 20-25 minutes. During this time, the tortilla stuffed with beans will be covered with a golden crust and will acquire a very appetizing appearance.

    

    After baking, lobiani should be greased with butter

Video: lobiani from Irina Khlebnikova

Kubdari

Kubdari is a traditional flatbread dish stuffed with meat and spices. Such deliciousness is necessarily prepared for a festive table for various occasions. For weddings and anniversaries, a huge number of fragrant kubdari is baked in Georgia, which are the main and long-awaited treat for both adults and children.

Keep in mind that real kubdari are baked exclusively from yeast dough. Unleavened or flaky dishes are not suitable for this dish.

Ingredients for kubdari:

• 2 glasses of milk;
• 800 g of wheat flour for dough and 100-200 g for rolling out and forming flat cakes;
• 1 tsp fast dry yeast;
• 2 tbsp. l. Sahara;
• 1 tsp dough salt and 1 tsp. For filling;
• 2 eggs;
• 3 tbsp. l. vegetable oil for greasing the baking sheet;
• 2 tbsp. l. butter for greasing kubdari;
• 500 g of beef;
• 500 g of lean pork;
• 100 g of good lard with meat veins;
• 3 onions;
• 5 cloves of garlic;
• 1 tsp spicy adjika with walnuts;
• 3/4 tsp dry red pepper;
• 1/2 tsp cumin;
• 1 tsp dry cilantro;
• 1 tsp hops-suneli.

Kubdari recipe:

1. Chop the onions with a knife as small as possible.

   

   Chop the onion with a sharp knife

2. Chop the beef into minced meat. Then chop the pork in the same way. It is better not to use a meat grinder, otherwise the filling will not have the required texture.

   

   Beef is easily chopped with a freshly sharpened knife

3. For grinding bacon, a meat grinder or blender is just useful. Then add dry herbs, adjika and spices to it. Pass the garlic through a press. Combine all the ingredients for the kubdari filling and leave to marinate.

   

   Lard can be chopped in a blender

4. Add yeast, sugar and 2 tablespoons to warm milk. l. flour. Let the dough stand in a warm place for half an hour. During this time, the yeast will "start", and a lush foam will appear on the surface.

   

   Sponge yeast dough is fluffy

5. Beat the eggs into the dough, add salt and sifted flour. Knead the dough on the table so that it becomes plastic and smooth. Let it sit for another 2 hours in a warm place. After this time, the yeast dough will greatly increase in volume and become very elastic.

   

   During proving, the dough can be kneaded 1-2 times, no more

6. Divide it into 4 parts. Start forming kubdari. Roll out the yeast dough into a round flat cake 0.5–0.7 cm thick.

   

   It is convenient to roll out the dough for kubdari with a heavy rolling pin

7. Place the filling of meat, onions and spices in the middle. Now gather the edges of the cake up and pinch, collecting in the center. You should get a bag of dough filled with filling.

   

   To prevent the dough from sticking to the table, add flour

8. Roll out a gingerbread man with a pinched center with a rolling pin so that it turns into a thin, not thicker than 1 cm, flat cake. The movements must be very careful, the pressure must be light, otherwise the meat filling will break through the dough and the dish will be spoiled.

   

   A light rolling pin is good for rolling out a stuffed cake.

9. Place the flatbreads on a greased baking sheet and bake for 35–40 minutes at 180 ° C in a preheated oven. After the cakes are baked, brush them with a piece of butter and cover with a towel. Serve after 10 minutes.

   

   Kubdari are very aromatic and tasty

Video: kubdari from Daniil Pervachenko

Classic mchad

Corn tortilla, which is cooked throughout Georgia, is a bread substitute and is called mchadi. This dish has a rich history and in the works of Georgian writers it symbolizes the heavenly body. It is not difficult to prepare mchadi, but it turns out very tasty.

Ingredients:

• 250 g of corn flour for dough and 100 g for rolling mchadi;
• water, how much the dough will take;
• salt to taste;
• vegetable oil for frying in a pan.

Recipe:

1. Pour the cornmeal into a deep bowl. Add salt and pour in as much water as needed to knead a thick, dense dough.

   

   Water should be added to flour gradually.

2. Knead the mass properly and roll a ball out of it. Put it in a bowl and let stand for 1 hour.

   

   If you roll out mchadi immediately after kneading the dough, they will be flat

3. Then start forming mchadi. Take small pieces of dough and, rolling a ball out of it, then turn into a cake. Dip in cornmeal and place in a skillet with hot oil.

   

   Instead of manual forming, you can cut mchadi into a shape from a flat cake rolled out on the table

4. Fry the mchadi on both sides until golden brown.

   

   It is best to fry mchadi in a clay or cast iron pan

5. Ready-made mchadis can be served hot or cold.

   

   Ready-made mchadi are delicious with suluguni cheese

I tried Georgian flatbreads for the first time in a restaurant at a theme party. I used to know about cakes with cheese - khachapuri, and did not suspect that beans could be used as a filling. Lobiani is just a discovery for me! Dough and beans make such a delicious thing that no meat is needed. Kubdari is actually space! Spicy filling and very tender dough soaked in meat juice and spices. And the mchadis, which were served instead of bread, crispy on the outside and so corn on the inside …

In general, Georgian flatbreads have become my weakness. Therefore, I decided to learn how to cook them myself. It turned out nothing too complicated. The main thing is to follow the technology and carefully roll out the stuffed cakes, not allowing the edges to break.

Mchadi can be served instead of bread, and stuffed flat cakes are an excellent substitute for the main course. Kubdari with meat will decorate the festive table, and lobiani will perfectly complement chicken soup or aromatic cabbage soup. They are also tasty cold, so the leftovers of the meal will not be wasted - cooled flat cakes can be served for breakfast or taken to work.