Julien Vilder’s Kitchen

Chechen cottage cheese flatbread

Chepalgash

This buttery soft flat bread filled with farmer’s cheese and green onions is sure to be a crowd pleaser. Chepalgash is a typical bread hailing from Chechnya in the northern Caucasus region. Chepalgash is traditionally served during tea time along with other breads such as hingalsh (a sweet pumpkin flatbread). This unique recipe is a great way to discover the flavours of the Caucasus using simple and easy to find ingredients.

⏰Prep Time: 45min ⏲️Cooktime: 3 min (per bread) 🍽️Servings: 6

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup of Kefir
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1 tsp baking powder

For the filling:

• 1 cup of dry farmer’s cheese
• 3 green onions
• salt
• pepper

• Butter for serving.

Directions:

1. Prepare the filling by finely slicing the green onions and combine them with farmer’s cheese, season with salt and set aside.
2. In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt then add the kefir and water.
3. Knead until the dough starts to come together, it will seem like there is too much liquid within the dough, keep on kneading it will eventually become less sticky. If after kneading for 5 minute still sticks too much add some more flour. Then let it rest for 30 minutes.
4. Once rested, split dough into 6 and on a very generously floured surface roll it out until it’s 1/4 of an inch thick, then spoon 1/6 of the filing, take one end and fold it to form a ball.
5. Roll it out once more and into a large disk.
6. Heat a pan on medium heat, and cook the Chepalgash until it starts to brown on each side. Repeat with all the flat breads.
7. Once all the flatbreads are done, rinse them quickly in a bowl of hot water to remove excess flour.
8. Brush over a generous amount of melted butter, cut into 6 and serve while still warm.