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Lobiani with beans in Georgian

Georgian Lobiani (Bean-Filled Flatbread)

Delicious, simple, meat-free flatbreads for breakfast or dinner! Georgian lobiani with beans is so easy to make it's almost surprising—and they turn out tasty and filling. They travel well for a road trip or lunch at work, and they're great with soups in place of bread, or with tea, coffee, or kefir.

Snezhana

Recipe author

Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Wheat flour

350

Kefir

Egg

Dry yeast

Sugar

0.5

Salt

0.5

Salt

White beans

300

Onion

Cilantro

Butter

Vegetable oil

Ground black pepper

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 17 % 7 g

Fats 19 % 8 g

Carbohydrates 64 % 27 g

201 kcal

GI: 25 / 0 / 75

Cooking method

Step 1:

How do you make Georgian lobiani with beans? Gather the ingredients from the list. You can use red or white beans, cooked—or canned beans instead. If using dried, rinse them, cover with cold water in a bowl, and leave to soak overnight. Wash and dry the egg with paper towels, and wash and dry the cilantro too.
Step 2:

Start with the yeast dough. Pour warm low-fat kefir into a bowl. Add the dry yeast and stir to dissolve it. Add the sugar and salt, crack in the egg, and stir everything together.
Step 3:

Add the sifted wheat flour in batches and knead a smooth, elastic dough that's slightly tacky. Keep in mind you may need a bit more or less flour than I did—go by the feel of the dough.
Step 4:

Put the dough in a bowl, cover it with a towel, and leave it to rest in a warm spot for an hour.
Step 5:

Peel the onion, finely chop it, and fry it in vegetable oil in a skillet until golden.
Step 6:

Meanwhile, drain the soaked beans, rinse them again, cover with fresh water, and boil over medium heat until fully tender, about 30 minutes. Taste to check—the beans should be soft and starting to fall apart.
Step 7:

Drain the water, leaving just a little in the bottom of the pot. Add the fried onion to the beans along with salt and ground black pepper to taste. Mash the beans and onion with a blender or a potato masher until they form a purée.
Step 8:

Stir the finely chopped fresh cilantro and the softened butter into the bean purée. The filling is ready.
Step 9:

Punch down the risen dough and start forming the flatbreads. Divide the dough into several pieces and roll each into a thin round.
Step 10:

Put the filling in the center of a round and gather the edges together in the middle, as shown in the photo.
Step 11:

Gently roll the filled ball out into a thin flatbread, taking care not to tear the dough.
Step 12:

Fry the flatbreads in hot vegetable oil in a skillet for 4–8 minutes per side, until browned. Serve the lobiani warm. Enjoy!

In Georgia, lobiani is most often made during Lent—the ingredients make it suitable for fasting days, yet the beans and dough make it very filling and satisfying for a long time. The process is a bit long but not complicated, well within reach even for beginner cooks; the main thing is to prep the ingredients and make the yeast dough.
Be ready for the flour to run a little more or less than the recipe calls for. Go by the desired consistency of the dough rather than the exact amount. To avoid mistakes, read up on flour and its properties!
You can swap the dry yeast for fresh cake yeast at a 1:3 ratio—for every 1 gram of dry yeast the recipe calls for, use 3 grams of fresh.
Fry with an oil that has a high smoke point. Every oil is good only up to a certain temperature—its smoke point—beyond which it starts to burn and forms harmful compounds. Unrefined oils, with few exceptions, have a low smoke point because they're full of unfiltered particles that scorch quickly. Refined oils hold up better to heat and have a higher smoke point. Whenever you're cooking in the oven, in a skillet, or on the grill, reach for a high-smoke-point oil. The most common ones are refined sunflower, olive, and grapeseed oil.