Armenian recipe
How to make Gata
գաթա
The whole country, with a different style in almost every region
A sweet, buttery bread or cake, often with a crumbly filling of flour, butter and sugar called khoriz. Gata from the villages of Garni and Geghard is round, decorated and about a foot across.
Ingredients
- Dough: 350 g plain flour, 150 g soft butter, 200 g plain yogurt, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon baking soda, a pinch of salt
- Filling (khoriz): 150 g plain flour, 120 g soft butter, 150 g sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
- 1 egg yolk, beaten, for glazing
Method
- Mix the yogurt with the baking soda, then work in the egg, butter, salt and flour to a soft dough. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.
- Rub the filling ingredients together with your fingertips until they look like damp sand.
- Heat the oven to 180 °C. Divide the dough in two, roll each piece into a circle about 25 cm across, and spread the filling on one circle, leaving a border.
- Cover with the second circle and press the edges together firmly. Prick the top with a fork, draw a pattern with a knife and brush with the egg yolk.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden. Cool before cutting into wedges.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
Families sometimes bake a coin into the gata, and whoever finds it in their slice is said to have good luck for the year.
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