I would not only like the recipe, I'd like to know how you braided it and how you got the "stripes" on the braids.

It looks delicious!   Patsy

Guro,

your bread is spectacular! Can you plst the recipe, please?

Very nice braiding; I, too, would like to hear about  your technique.

Caucasus mountains of Eurasia is exactly where this bread comes from.  Where I live there are large communities of people from the Georgian (Republic) and Azerbaijan  (I currently do not reside in the US).  This bread is usually baked for special occasions.

Parmesan, not in the Caucasus mountains, adding Pesto is my twist.  This bread is traditionally made with either seasoned ground beef/lamb, mixed herbs/oil made into a paste or crumbled Caucasian cheese/herbs.

The Sumac I use comes from Persia (Iran).

I am sure that with care and attention just about anyone can make this bread look like the photo.  When I post the recipe, I will do my best to describe how to get that braid right.

I don't know if I connected the dots but this is all I got

Dear Guro, Your loaf is one of the nicest looking I've ever seen. I too am most interested in your recipe and braiding method. Thank you for sharing this loaf from your part of the world, and for your efforts in translating the recipe into English for all of us!  Regards, breadsong

Thank you so much for posting this!  I LOVE it anytime anyone posts a traditional bread, celebration bread, family recipe, something from their childhood...

I am really looking forward to your post this weekend! 

I too would appreciate the recipe. And it would be a lot of fun if you could post pictures of the various stages of the process.

When it's made with ground meat, is the meat worked into the dough? Layered? Sounds fascinating.

Murvet

Not only do I want the Pesto version (as a friend said to me once "Pesto is the Best-o!") but the meat version sounds wonderful too!!  Could you please post both, or link a place where I could find it.  Oh man..  Now I'm hungry!

It is beautiful, I can't wait to try it! Thank you for sharing = )

Margie

looks and sounds great. please can we have both recipes to try. will try them on a ukranian friend as well.

martyn

Thank you, thank you! I am really looking forward to trying this recipe. Thank you so much for taking the time to translate it for us! It looks so good, not sure about the twisting part, but its worth a try!

I just took mine out of the oven and it is wonderful and lovely by my meager standards, but need some work on my braids. Still not a bad first effort! I can't wait to try it. I didn't have any sumac, so I substituted dill weed. I see I can buy it on Penzeys.

How would you think this dough work for the same idea, but a sweet bread, like a cinnamon loaf? Thanks so much for the terrific recipe. I needed a sucess after a few sourdough failures of late. My son asked where my last loaves were and I asked if he noticed some bread at the end of our driveway for the birds....Andrea

I followed the verbal directions and somehow I got it close. Not perfect, but very pretty! I shaped it like Challah only you move it in a circle as you go and when you get to two, I just twisted them and ended it somewhat under the edge. I was very happy with the taste even though I had no sumac. My opinion is that this dough is rich enough to use for a cinnamon braid and intend to try it this weekend. I will let you know how it turns out as it would be great for a Holiday as well. I think I will use the posted recipe for Thanksgiving and make it a little more cultural rather than my usual Butterhorn rolls. Andrea

I wish I had a digital camera, but you will just have to believe me. I made the same bread today, only the filling was butter, Vietnamese cinnamon, cardamom, sugar and raisins. It is not as pretty as my first one, but I drizzled the glaze over it back and forth and it is very nice. I will let me son be the judge of taste as he is the cinnamon roll lover. The heavier ingredients made it harder to keep the open ends upright. I had white and WW sourdough that turned out well today too. However, my David Lebovitz ginger cake stuck in the pan when I turned it out. After it cooled I topped it with cinnamon whipped cream to cover the issue. Andrea

Dear guro, your bread looks fantastic, and I'm intrigued by the tahini and Kalamata bread, can you give some details about that one? I would deeply appreciate it.

Eva.

Guro...beautiful, interesting bread: another use for the jar of sumac in my pantry! Thank you! I too am very interested in your poolish bread with tahini and Kalamata olives. When you have time, like Eva, I would love the details. Also, thank you for  the time and effort of you spend, putting your excellent commentary into English.             Jan

I apologize.  I made the Caucasian bread a few days ago and I completely forgot about grabbing my camera.  Life is hectic and I travel frequently.  Sorry!

6 tbls evoo

5 med. onions (white or yellow/finely chopped)

1 kg. (2.2 lbs)  ground fatty lamb meat (or mix fatty lamb and ground beef 15%)

1 tbls caraway seeds

1 tbls b. pepper (ground)

1/2 cup chopped parsley

Salt to taste

Heat oil, add onions and carmelize.  Add the meat(s) and the rest of the ingredients.  Do not over cook.  Drain the fat the best you can.  Done!

Hi there guro,

I tried following your instructions to make a sweet version of your bread recently. This was a lot of fun to try.
I came across this shaping method tonight on youtube; I thought of your shaping instructions and thought there were similarities, up until the point where Mr. Hitz cuts pieces to fit to the pans:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqGwQXFjHgg&feature=channel

I hope you like the video. This shaping method is what I tried to do to when making my loaf.  I think I need to roll thinner to achieve all the nice layers that you did. I can't wait to try one of your savory versions!

Regards, breadsong

Guro,

I really just wanted to tell you that I made your bread yesterday for the first time, and while it didn't look perfect, everyone loved it.  Even my 4 year old, who is super picky about my homemade breads asked me to make it every day for him.  This is seriously going to go in my monthly bread rotation.  Thank you SO much for sharing.  It was quite the tasty treat to deviate from our normal bread routine.  :)

this is such a stunning bread! the comment about wonder bread reminds me of what dear michael batterberry of food arts magazine (sadly recently deceased) said when he tasted my soft white bread loaf: "this is what wonder bread in its soul really wanted to be!

Guro,  When I lived for a year in Tbilisi (about eight years ago), I fell in love with the Georgian breads cooked in wood-fired ovens.  One was "Dedas Puri", if I remember correctly. (Mother's Bread?).  Another "puri", the name of which I cannot remember, was a flat bread with a unique shape, having what appeared to be "ears" on the side.  By any chance to you have any recipes or shaping tecniques for them?  Thanks

Bob

guro, i'd love to use this shaping technique in my next book for one of my breads and to include you in the headnote. is it possible to have your last name. if that's a problem i'll just use Guro!

Guro,

   No hay problema.  If I can insert some photos, these are the breads I remember.

If you have a chance to get back there, I will wait patiently.  Thanks,

Bob

Thank you for posting Guro!  Truly a lovely technique. 

I did have problems with the first three sentences of the shaping directions.

Place the two halves crossing each other (open roulade layers facing up) to create and X shape.  Gently pick up the two ends of the bottom half, cross them over the top half, and place them back down.  Continue this process, taking the two bottom ends and crossing them over the top until all the roulade has been used.

The wording threw me off.  It wasn't until I took out clay and tried to follow along. I crossed the strands over and was going up into the air which couldn't be right.  What I ended up doing was twisting the long ends of the X together, not braiding which I thought would happen because of the word "braid" in place of the word "twist."

Look at the braid.

I changed to read:

After cutting, the two halves are lying parallel or next to each other.  Cross one over the other making an X and continue to twist two long ends together bringing the under piece over the other keeping the cut sides up.  Lightly pinch the ends together.  Twist the upper arms of the X in the same manner.  The dough should be one long double twist with cut surfaces up.

Then I continued.

The result is just awesome!  I used chopped fresh cranberries to replace sumac.

Mini