
Simit is something I really enjoyed during my time in Turkey. Served on every street corner with either cream cheese or Nutella it was a firm favourite for our whole family. I enjoyed it as part of our iftar table as well and have found a recipe that is very easy from @charmerkitchen which I adapted slightly. It has a dense bagel like texture with a crisp outside and a nutty flavour from the sesame seeds. This recipe will give you 8.

Simit
Dough
1+1/4 cup (300 ml) luke-warm water
1 Tbsp dried yeast
500g all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
Topping
1/8 cup grape molasses mixed with 1/3 cup water
or substitute with 1 Tbsp brown sugar and 1/3 cup water mixed together
1 cup toasted sesame seeds
Preheat the oven to 230˚C. Mix the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a bowl. Add the water and mix well. Knead until the dough keeps together well, 5-6 minutes. The dough should be smooth but not too much. Cover and set aside to rise for an hour.
Mix the grape molasses and water or brown sugar and water in a large bowl. Place the roasted sesame seed in a another large bowl. If you don’t have roasted sesame seeds, toast them in a dry pan until golden, stirring them regularly.
Cut the dough into 8 equally sized pieces. Roll each piece into sausage shapes. Let them rise about 15-20 minutes. Take one piece then roll and squeeze into a long snake shape. fold in half and twist together and make into a doughnut shape. Please see my reel below and on Instagram for the method.

First, dip the simits into the molasses/sugar mixture until covered all over and then dip both sides into the sesame seeds. Place them on a piece of baking parchment on a baking tray. Let them rise again 10 minutes and bake for 15 minutes.
Serve this with date paste and Labneh or cream cheese, really just about anything. You’ll find an easy recipe for date paste here.
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