In case you’re new here, you should know a few things.
1. I married a Turkish man.
2. I call him Bear, Mister Bear, or Gorilla, depending on the occasion.
You may hear me talk of him a lot. He’s the main victim, er, happy recipient of my culinary explorations. Much of the time, he will influence me to scope out new recipes or try different things. For the last year since we’ve been married, he talked constantly about Turkish simit, a bagel covered in sesame seeds. I mean, constantly.
Finally I found a recipe as close to the ones in his homeland. It’s kept him quiet pretty well.
Simit (Turkish Sesame Bagel)
1/2 cup sesame seeds
3 cups bread or all purpose flour, approximately
1 pkg dry yeast
1 tsp salt
1 cup hot water
1 cup/ 2 sticks butter or margarine, melted
1 egg, beaten
Into a mixing bowl add 2 cups of the flour and sprinkle in the yeast and salt. Stir well. Add the hot water and melted warm butter. Mix for 2 minutes with the dough hook. Add the rest of the flour and knead until the dough forms a ball around the dough hook, about 10 minutes.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise for 2 hours. Divide the dough into 24 pieces and roll each into a ball. Press a hole inside the ball with your fingers and stretch out the circle of dough. Repeat with the other bagels and place 1 1/2 inches apart on the baking sheet.
Preheat the oven to 375F about 20 minutes before baking.
Meanwhile, brush the bagels with the beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Let the bagels rest as the oven preheats, about 20 minutes. Bake about 30-35 minutes, until golden brown and firm when pressed. Enjoy with a hot cup of Turkish tea, jam, or honey and clotted cream.
User Responses
10 Responses and Counting...
12.31.2010
This will keep my tummy quiet…
I am married to a Turkish man as well and we live in Turkey, so to help you with simit, just use more, I mean, much more sesame seeds. I cannot understand Turkish love for simits… but I guess you have to be native in this case.
Oh yes, I’ve seen photos with simit doused in sesame seeds! I was a tiny bit conservative, but thank you for the tip!
Hi, I’m writing to you from Istanbul, Turkey. Simit is one of the most famous breakfast food . We eat with white cheese, olives, tomatoes, cucumber and drink tea. White cheese is kind of feta cheese but it does not have the same taste. You can find turkish stuff in http://www.tulumba.com in USA, maybe you know.
I’m pretty sure your simit was delicious but I’ll try to give you its recipe step by step and I hope you can try and enjoy.
Ingredients:
3 cups wheat flour
14 gr. dry yeast
2 tbs confectioner sugar
1 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sunflower oil or canola oil
For the top of the simit:
1 egg white
1/2 cup water
and sesame
Prepare:
1. Mix 1 tbs sugar with warm water (not hot) in a mug and wait until the yeast bubbles.( appr. 10 to 15 min.)
2. Combine flour with rest of sugar and salt.
3. Add egg, oil, water with yeast to flour and mix. We usually use hand when we mix. But if you are using mixer try to use it on low speed. Mix them until all stuff combine. Do not mix long time.
4. The dough must be soft but not sticky. If your dough is sticky add some flour.
For the top:
Mix the egg’s white part with water in a bowl. Pour sesames in another bowl.
How to do;
Take a piece of dough in your hand and roll it until it is 4-5 inches long. Make another one and twist together . After that make a circle.
First put both sides of the dough in the bowl containing the water/egg’s white mixture. Then do the same with the bowl containing the sesames.
Put your simit in the hot oven (375 degree) until it is golden brown.(appr. 20-25 min.)
I tried to explain how to make simits, hope you enjoy
-Mine
Hi Mine,
Thanks so much for the recipe, I will have to try this one next!
I spent a year in Ankara, Turkey when I was a child and my favorite memory is buying a simit and a coke from the simit man on our school recess break. He brought them in on tall pole. When I buy bagels I always buy the sesame one because it is the closest thing I could find to that wonderful taste. Thank you for the recipe – I can’t wait to try them!
Hi Christi, You sound like just the person to ask – I’m not Korean or Turkish but I like to mix and match ingredients depending on what happens to be in the kitchen – can you tell me the difference between Korean pepper paste Gojuchang and Turkish pepper paste Biber Salcasi? – Thanks for the recipe too, my kids love simit!
Hi Wendy,
I like to mix and match too! Ironically enough, I happen to have both those pepper pastes in my fridge at this moment. Kochujang is a Korean red pepper paste made from Korean pepper powder, flour, water, and sweetener. It is very smooth and at least as twice as hot as Biber Salcasi. Biber Salcasi is made from Turkish red peppers, salt and some olive oil. The tastes of these two pastes are different enough so that I would not recommend subbing one for the other. Unless you’re just experimenting, it will not yield any taste close to what the original recipe intended.
Hope this helps,
Christi
My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!
Hey, you can find frozen simit and also acma in Hamle market. (Turkish market =) They are seriously good and fresh! Just 2 min in toaster and you need Bulgarian feta, tomato, cucumber,olive,green pepper and ayran or tea next to it ! yummy!!!
You hubby will love this breakfast or late brunch =)
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