Walibakh

// Ingredients

• Plain flour — 500 g
• Kefir — 250 ml
• Milk — 100 ml
• Dry yeast — 7 g
• Sugar — 1 tsp
• Salt — 1 tsp
• Vegetable oil — 2 tbsp
• Ossetian cheese (or suluguni mixed with feta) — 600 g
• Butter — 60 g

// Method

1. 01Make a yeast dough: yeast and sugar in warm milk, then the kefir, salt, oil and flour. Leave somewhere warm for an hour.
2. 02Crumble or grate the cheese. Add salt if it is mild, or a little cottage cheese if it is very salty.
3. 03Divide the dough and the cheese in two. Stretch the dough into a circle, put a ball of cheese on it, gather the edges and pinch together.
4. 04Seam side down, press the filling out to the edges with your palms to make an even pie about 1 cm thick. Pierce the centre.
5. 05Bake at 220 °C for 20–25 minutes until golden.
6. 06Brush the hot pie with butter. Traditionally three pies are stacked on the table.