Simit- Turkish Bread Rings

Simit is so much more than a bread ring.

Traditionally eaten at breakfast and as a snack and around since the 1520’s.

Lovely nutty taste from the seeds but you can make them with poppy seeds too.

Simit , remind me of a light bagel.

Many variations of Simit exist throughout the regions of Turkey.

Ankara ones are crisper (below)

 In Izmir, they are called Gevrek.

You could have them with soup, afternoon tea, they are just moorish and versatile.

Scrummy with cheese and meat, rich fruit jams….

You will love them as despite looking hard, they are easy peasy to make!!

Vendors sell them in Turkey, in like what I have seen vendors selling peanuts or popcorn machines.

There is a Polish version  (obwarzanek ) too, which I took a photo of a seller when I was in Krakow but as you can see, he was not happy.

They tasted just as good in Krakow as they did in Istanbul:)

Anyhow enough ranting…

Time for bread!

SIMIT:

I let this dough rest overnight to develop more flavour but you don’t need to but you will need to prove it more than I did to start as I put it straight in the fridge.

I would give it 1-3 hours to prove if not putting in the fridge.

4 cups of bread flour.

300ml of warm water.

I tsp sugar.

2 tsp of dried yeast.

2 tsp of salt.

Sesame seeds, about 1 cup.

1/4 of a cup of Pomegranate syrup.

30mls of water.

Warm your water and stir in the sugar.

Add in the yeast and stir well, leave to sit for 10-15 minutes until frothy.

Place flour and salt in a mixing bowl and combine well.

Add frothy yeasty mix to the dry mix and form a dough.

Knead for 5-8 minutes until silky.

Cover tightly and place in fridge until the next day.

Remove dough from fridge as soon as you get up.

I leave it about 3 hours to come to room temperature and rise .

Knock back the dough and cut the dough into 8-10 pieces.

Roll into balls and cover with a damp cloth and leave to rest for 20 minutes.

Roll each ball out to a long thin piece of dough, about 25-30 cm in length.

You want to fold the dough in half and twist so you get a braidy looking stretch of dough.

Or failing that do a 2 braid.

Join ends together and leave on a flour dusted tray/board for 15 minutes.

While this is resting, toast your sesame seeds and leave to cool.

Pour syrup into a bowl and add water.

Combine well and dip rings into the syrup and leave to drain on a rack or colander for a few minutes.

Gently dip each side in sesame seeds and place on bread tray with baking paper.

Leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 240 Celsius.

Place baking tray with Simit into the oven.

I threw in a few ice cubes down the bottom of the oven to create steam to get that expansion of the bread.

You can use a steam button if you have one or spray with a water bottle:)

You only need to bake them for 10-15 minutes at this heat.

I usually do 8 minutes and turn the tray around.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool on the baking tray for a few minutes and transfer to a wire rack.

Enjoy when you are ready.

Warm & plain are delish!!

WArm with oozing butter is just as yum!

Dunk them into freshly made bacon hock soup…Heavenly!!

GET GREEDY!!

Did you LOVE this bread?

Do you love Turkish food too ?

Have you tried Karisik Pide?

or Baklava?

http://www.greedybread.com/bread/simit-turkish-bread-rings/