Lobiani is khachapuri's thrifty cousin: the same soft, tangy dough, but filled with mashed kidney beans instead of cheese. Its name comes from lobio, the Georgian word for beans, and the best known version comes from Racha, the mountain region in the north west, where it is often eaten with the region's smoked ham. Bakeries and street stalls across Georgia sell lobiani by the wedge, warm and wrapped in paper, and it is a traditional food on Barbaroba, Saint Barbara's Day, the 17th of December.

The filling is simple and satisfying: beans cooked soft, mashed with butter, fried onion and a little coriander and pepper. Each round cuts into eight wedges, which makes lobiani ideal for passing around a room of people watching a race, and it is just as good cold the next day.

The dough

Ingredients

• 3 1/3 cups (420 g) all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fine salt
• 3/4 cup (180 ml) warm milk
• 1/2 cup (120 g) plain whole milk yogurt or matsoni
• 2 tablespoons (30 g) butter

Method

1. Mix the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in the large bowl. Add the warm milk, yogurt and melted butter and mix into a dough. Knead on a lightly floured counter for 8 minutes.
2. Cover the bowl with the towel and leave somewhere warm for 60 minutes.

The bean filling

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons (45 g) butter
• 1 large yellow onion
• 2 cans (15 oz, 425 g each) red kidney beans
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon utskho suneli (blue fenugreek)
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt

Method

1. Melt the butter in the skillet over medium heat and cook the onion, stirring, for 10 minutes.
2. Add the beans, coriander, fenugreek, pepper and salt and cook for 3 minutes, stirring. Take off the heat and mash with the masher until mostly smooth with some pieces. Taste for salt. Spread on a plate to cool.

Shaping and baking

Ingredients

• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon (15 g) butter

Method

1. Heat the oven to 450°F (230°C) with a rack in the middle.
2. Divide the dough and the filling in half. Flatten one piece of dough into a disc about 8 inches (20 cm) across. Put half the filling, rolled into a ball, in the center. Bring the edges of the dough up and over the filling, pleating them, and pinch them together tightly at the top to seal.
3. Turn the parcel seam side down on a floured counter. Press it gently with your palms, then roll it with the rolling pin into a round about 11 inches (28 cm) across and 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) thick. If the filling peeks through, pinch the dough over it. Repeat with the other half.
4. Transfer to the lined sheet, brush with beaten egg and cut a small hole in the center of each to let steam out. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes.
5. Brush the hot lobiani with the softened butter, then cut each round into 8 wedges.

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