Georgian Recipes

We recently returned to our bakery, Trepezi, in our neighborhood in Tbilisi to see how our baker, Zaur Skhirtladze, makes Lobiani (boiled bean bread).

Lobiani is enjoyed all year round and especially eaten on the Georgian holiday of Barbaroba, or St. Barbara’s Day (December 17).

The main ingredient of Lobiani is boiled kidney beans.

Zaur told us that after boiling, the beans are mashed and mixed with butter, salt and pepper.

The dough used to wrap the bean filling is the same as the dough used to make Shotis Puri (traditional Georgian bread).

Each Lobiani begins as a flattened piece of dough, which is kneaded by hand.

The bean filling is spooned onto the dough and spread evenly.

The dough is then wrapped around the bean filling.

The sides are pinched together.

Each Lobiani is stretched onto a special linen covered pad (called Lapati in Georgian) and gently flattened.

The Lapati is used to place the dough inside a deep circular oven called a tone.

The Lapati has a thumb hole that is used by the baker when he places the dough in the tone and presses it firmly against the inner wall.

As the Lobiani bakes it turns a golden brown and is ready to be removed in 7-8 minutes.

The baker uses two specialized tools to remove the baked Lobiani. One is called Kavi and is used to stab the Lobiani and the other is called Safkheki  and is used to dislodge the Lobiani from the wall of the tone.

The freshly baked Lobiani are brushed with butter or oil for a beautiful glazed effect.

In a future post we will show how Lobiani can be made at home (step-by-step process).

We would like to thank Zaur Skhirtladze and the Trepezi bakery for showing us how real Georgian Lobiani is made.

More information about traditional Georgian bread making can be found here.

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