Simit

Dipped in thinned grape molasses before the sesame, which is what makes it stick and what turns the ring mahogany.

Vegan.

Ingredients

the dough

• 500 g strong white flour
• 280 ml warm water
• 7 g fast-action dried yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 10 g salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

the coating

• 4 tablespoons grape molasses (pekmez)
• 150 ml warm water
• 200 g sesame seeds

Method

1. IT IS DIPPED IN THINNED GRAPE MOLASSES BEFORE THE SESAME, and that dip does both jobs that make a simit a simit. It is what the sesame sticks to -- egg wash holds a scatter of seeds, but a simit is meant to be armoured in them, and only a sticky sugar syrup takes that much. And it is what turns the ring deep mahogany in the oven: grape molasses is largely fructose and glucose, which caramelise at a far lower temperature than the crust would brown on its own. An egg-washed sesame ring comes out pale gold with seeds in patches. The dip is four tablespoons let down with a hundred and fifty millilitres of warm water -- thin enough to dip a whole ring into, not a glaze to brush on.
2. THE RING IS A TWISTED ROPE AND NOT A CUT CIRCLE. Two long thin ropes rolled, laid together, twisted round each other and then joined end to end. The twist gives the chewy spiral crumb and the ridges that hold the seeds; a plain ring of dough bakes dense and sheds sesame.
3. IT IS DIPPED WHOLE AND THEN PRESSED INTO A TRAY OF SEEDS. Held by the edge, submerged in the molasses water, lifted and allowed to drip for a second, then laid into a shallow tray of sesame and pressed and turned so both faces load up. Sprinkling the seeds on instead puts a third as many on and most of those end up on the oven floor.
4. IT IS BAKED HOT AND FAST. 220°C for fifteen to eighteen minutes. The sugar in the coating is already doing the browning, so a long moderate bake dries the crumb out before the outside is where it should be. Hot and short gives a crisp shell and a chewy inside.
5. IT IS EATEN THE SAME DAY AND REALLY THE SAME MORNING. A simit is crisp for about three hours and leathery by the evening. The dough can be made the night before and kept in the fridge, which is the only part worth preparing ahead.
6. The flour, yeast, sugar and salt stirred together, then the warm water and olive oil added.
7. Kneaded 10 MINUTES to a smooth firm dough.
8. Covered and risen 1 HOUR until doubled.
9. The grape molasses whisked with the 150 ml of warm water in a wide shallow bowl -- THIN enough to dip into.
10. The sesame seeds spread in a second shallow tray.
11. The dough divided into 8. Each piece halved and rolled into TWO long thin ropes about 45 cm.
12. The two ropes laid together and TWISTED round each other, then the ends joined into a ring.
13. Each ring DIPPED WHOLE into the molasses water, lifted and allowed to drip for a second.
14. Laid into the sesame tray and PRESSED and turned so both faces are thickly loaded.
15. Set on lined trays and proved 25 MINUTES.
16. Baked at 220°C for 15 to 18 MINUTES, until deep MAHOGANY -- not gold.
17. Cooled on a rack. Eaten the same morning; crisp for about 3 hours.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Turkey · All recipes