Turkish bread rings, encrusted in sesame seeds and made from simple bread dough or sweetened spongy dough.
Course Bread
Cuisine Turkish
Keyword How To Make Turkish Simit Bread
Prep Time 40 minutesminutes
Cook Time 20 minutesminutes
rising 1 hourhour
Total Time 2 hourshours
Servings 8servings
Equipment
Large Clay Bowl
Basting brush
Sheet pan
Ingredients
1tbspInstant Yeast
2tspSugar
1tbspSalt
1 1/2cupsWater lukewarm
3 3/4cupsFlour more for dusting
2tbspOil or Melted butter
1/2tspMahlab/Mahlepi optional
Dipping and Finishing
1/4cupMolasses
1/2cupWater
1cupSesame seeds lightly toasted
Instructions
Pour water in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle yeast and sugar on top. Allow to sit 5 minutes to form a foam, making sure the yeast is proofed. Sprinkle salt, mahlab (if using) and add a little flour. Stir.
Slowly add flour and stir until it becomes difficult to stir. Now it’s time to get a little messy. With your hands, begin to press added flour into the dough, add more flour, and keep pressing and folding, adding flour until it forms a lovely plump ball. There is no need for strenuous kneading, just a simple press, fold, flour, press, fold, flour until the dough is no longer sticking to your fingers.
In a clean large bowl, pour a little oil to glaze the bowl. Place dough ball in the oiled bowl, cover and let it sit in a warm (not hot) place to rise. It will rise in about one hour. A little longer in a cooler climate or if you use a more rustic flour.
How To Shape Simit - Once it rises, sprinkle a little flour on top, and punch it down. On a floured surface, roll into a long log and cut 16 sections. Lay 2 strips, that have been rolled and stretched to about a foot each, side by side, pinching one end together. Pick them up, holding the pinched end, and twirl the 2 strips round and round so that they wrap around each other. Bring the long twisted roll into a circle and press the ends together. Do the same to all the sections until you have 8 rings.
In one small bowl, wide enough to dip the dough rings in, whisk the molasses with 1/2 cup of water. In another bowl of similar size, place the toasted sesame seeds. Dip one twisted dough ring into the molasses mix quickly, both sides, then dip into the sesame seeds to coat both sides. Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Do the same for the other 7.
Preheat oven to 400 and allow the dough to sit on the counter for 30 minutes to rise a little more.
Bake for 18 – 20 minutes, until golden on top.
Video
Notes
If a spelt dough is desired instead of the wheat flour, simply swap out the wheat flour for spelt flour but also add 1 tablespoon of potato starch to the flour. Spelt flour is a more rustic flour and can be heavy so it needs a little help in the rising process. I find potato starch the perfect assistance.
If hemp heart seeds are desired instead of toasted sesame seeds (lots more protein in using these little seeds), no toasting is needed. Simply dip the molasses coated dough rings into a bowl of hemp seeds and follow the same instructions for the wheat flour Simit.