Shoti, Georgian bread

The introduction

Hello everyone, I hope that you are all doing just fine!

In this article I want to tell you about this national thing of Georgia, which is a type of bread, but it’s not something fancy or whatever. It’s called Shoti and it’s a very popular bread in Georgia, specially in the eastern parts of Georgia, I mean, Kakheti.

So, whenever you are in Kakheti, you will see the signs saying “Tone” and that’s how you know that it is a place where you can buy some Shotis. However, nowadays, it’s not really the Tones which our ancestors used to have. Those Tones were on woods and the people would start the fire in them and then, when there was no more fire and the Tone was hot, they would have those Shoti bread dough ready and they would stick them on the walls of Tone and since it was pretty hot, the bread would be baked there and then they would take them off and that was it, the Shoti bread was ready.

About Shoti

Shoti is a Georgian type of bread, which is made in Tone, usually. It has a long and semilunar shape and they also say, that it’s shaped like a canoe. It is made of white flour only. Its middle part is kind of large and then it gets narrowed on both sides to the ends. They also call it “Shotis puri”, which means “Shoti bread” in English.

You can find the real Shoti bread in Kakheti, if you ask me, because there you will find especially long and bended Shoti breads there. And they prepare relatively shorter Shoti breads in Kartli, if you want to know the truth. The Kakhetian Shoti breads are like swords and they are pretty white and the edges are pretty crispy, however, if you buy Shoti in Kartli, you might find it softer and not that white or crispy. They are more like fried from the outside, I mean, they have these spots, where they are kind of golden-brown in colour because of the baking.

The name “Shoti” must be related to a pagan God, perhaps to the Moon and it’s said that, that is why it has that semilunar shape. There are writings where they say that the Shoti breads were one of those things which people gave to Gods as their tribute to them. Shoti bread was considered to be a festive bread or something like that and, nowadays, when people have some important festivals or weddings or large feasts, they always try to have the Shoti bread on tables, if you want to know the truth.

When they prepare the Shoti bread in Kakheti, there’s always such smell around, that even if you are not hungry, you will want to have some of that Shoti bread.

Where to buy Shoti

Well, to be honest, nowadays it’s not really that easy to find a good place to buy a good Shoti bread, while some time ago, everywhere you went, you would see those great Shoti breads which smelled and tasted heavenly. It was those times, until they looked for some easier recipes of Shoti bread, when they don’t have to use too much flour into baking the Shoti bread and they can economy on it and prepare the Shoti breads and sell them and have much more profit, than they used to have back in those times. And since then, you won’t really find that true Shoti bread in every bakery or place where they prepare Shoti bread.

Usually, when you walk on the sidewalks, you can see some places where there are signs saying “Tone” or “Shoti” and that’s how you know that you will find some Shoti bread there because usually, when they have written “Tone”, they should have some Shoti bread there. However, there are other types of bread, for example, they have Lavashi, which is more like round shaped than the Shoti bread and it’s more soft than the Shoti bread and there’s the Greek bread too, and in some places they just prepare Greek bread or Lavashi. However, they usually have their baked breads in the window so that you can see what type of bread they bake there.

Well, to tell you the truth, the prices for the Shoti bread is from 50 Tetris to 1 Lari, however, mostly they sell it in 60 or 70 Tetris. They also prepare Shotis Lobiani in many places, which means Lobiani in Shoti bread in English and it’s like cooked beans with spices into the Shoti bread baked like that in Tone and it’s very delicious I must say and that thing costs 1 Lari, usually.

So when you see sign saying “Tone” anywhere you can anticipate that they would have some Shoti bread baked there, however, you should still ask them about that, because as I have told you, they might not prepare the Shoti breads and they might just have Lavashi or something else, so keep that in mind and ask them about that.

Anyways, it’s better if you are in Kakheti and you buy the Shoti bread there, because it’s always very different when you taste the Shoti bread prepared in Kakheti and in other places. It’s even better if you buy the Shoti bread in some village in Kakheti because the villagers prepare more delicious Shoti bread than the city residents, if you want to know the truth. However, it all depends on the type of the flour that people use, I guess.

Preparation of Shoti

So that, let me tell you about the preparation of Shoti bread, however, I guess, you have to have a Tone, where you can prepare the real Shoti bread with its shape and smell and taste and stuff like that, however, you can even prepare it if you don’t have Tone, but it will be a bread and not Shoti bread, if you ask me.

Ingredients:

• All-purpose flour, 2 kilogrammes
• Warm water, 1 l
• Active dry yeast, 20 grams
• Salt, 30-40 grams

Preparation process

So, first of all, you should take a large bowl and add 2 kilogramms of all-purpose flour to it. Then you just make a small hole in the middle of the flour so that you can pour some water into it.

You can have 1 litre of warm water and you can pour it into that hole, however, until that, you should dissolve the salt into the water.

You can either add the yeast to the warm water into the bowl, or you can have some water poured into a small cup of something like that and add the active dry yeast to it and have it like that for a couple of minutes. During that time, the yeast will kind of dissolve in water and it will be active and you can then use it into the dough.

When you pour the water into the hole in the all purpose flour, you can then start making the dough with all those things and you should mix them together with your hands until they are pretty well mixed.

When the dough is ready, you should take a warm cloth and wrap the bowl with the dough into it and then you should set it aside, maybe somewhere in a warm place, so that the yeast will make the dough get doubled in size. However, it needs some time to get doubled in size and usually, people have the dough like that for about an hour or even two.

In the meantime, you can prepare the Tone. So that, you have to have some cut wood or brushwood or those things that are left from the vine, which we call it “Tsalami”, which are great things for starting a fire instantly. And then you have to put them in the middle of this Tone and have them set on fire. When the fire starts, the Tone will get hot and then you have to wait for the fire to finally put off and the only thing left should be those embers in the Tone. And then you can have the dough taken out.

When you take the dough out, you should then knead it once again and set aside for about 10 to 15 minutes. Then, you can just take some balls of dough and make them semilunar shaped with your hands. It’s pretty easy if you just watch someone preparing those balls of dough and making them look like that half moon.

After that, you should just take the prepared dough pieces and stick them onto the walls of the Tone, but be careful, not to burn your fingers or hands there, because Tone is very hot and it’s even hotter in the middle, so that you shouldn’t really put yourself into it, if you want to know the truth. And it’s kind of dangerous not to fall into Tone, because there are embers and you can get burned and there are some people, who I know, that they fell into Tones and, fortunately, there were some people around, who took them out and they didn’t get all burned and everything.

Well, when the bread starts getting a little bit reddish, you can take it out with those special sticks made from metal, which are used to take the bread out of the Tone and that’s just it, the Shoti breads are ready and they smell like heaven and it’s irresistible not to eat them while they are still hot.

People usually eat these Shoti breads while they are still hot and they usually put a piece of butter and a slice of cheese inside and it’s very delicious, when the butter and the cheese melt together into this piece of Shoti bread.