Lobiani (Georgian bean bread)

Georgian cuisine is quite heavily bread based, with possibly the most well-known being the khachapuri, a delicious cheese-stuffed bread. Another stuffed Georgian bread is lobiani, which is filled with mashed kidney beans. I'm not really a big fan of baking, but I am a big fan of bean cuisine, so decided that this would be an ideal accompaniment to my ajapsandali. 
It's a pretty forgiving recipe, and although it says knead the dough for 10 minutes, I think I only kneaded it for around 5 minutes. From an aesthetic point of view, the final form can take many shapes, some lobiani is very flat, others almost bun shaped, and some rolled out in a sausage. I went for round and flattish.

Ingredients
500 g flour
1 tsp yeast
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
25 g margarine
320 ml warm water


Filling
400 g can of kidney beans (drained)
1 small onion
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp khmeli suneli
1 tsp cumin seeds 

For the dough
1. Add flour to a large mixing bowl and rub in margarine
2. Add the yeast, salt and sugar (I used agave syrup instead of sugar - I had some in the house and have been trying to use it up). 
3. Mix in enough warm water to make a dough. The amount may vary depending on how accurate you are with your flour measuring. Anything from 300-350 ml should be about right.
4. Knead the dough for 10 minutes (or until your arms get tired!) put back in the bowl, cover with cling film and leave in a warm place for around 1 hour

For the filling
1. Fry the onion and garlic in olive oil until softened and lightly browned.
2. Drain the kidney beans and add to the onion mixture. Some recipes call for cooking the beans from scratch, I went for the easy option.
3. Add the spices to the pan and give a good stir. Take off the heat and mash roughly.
4. Leave to one side to cool.

Stuffing the bread (preheat the oven to 220 C)
1. The dough should have risen considerably, knock it back and knead for a few minutes. Divide it into 4 balls
2. Take 1 ball and roll it out on a floured surface

3. Put one quarter of the bean mixture on the flattened dough
4. Gather the sides together in pleats so they meet in the middle

5. Press the disk flat and gently roll it out again, making sure that none of the bean mixture escapes
6. Repeat the process
7. Bake for around 20 minutes until lightly browned, then take out the oven and place on a cooling rack
8. Brush the surface with olive oil or butter and serve