Simit: Turkish bread

Not a bagel, not croissant, not a baguette, but as good as if you like this kind of stuff…
This bread is very popular in Turkey and the middle street, is sold in the streets throughout the day as the vendors walk around with baskets or trolleys filled with the freshly baked rings covered with sesame seeds.

Simit is not your typical meals accompaniment bread. It is more for breakfast with jam and cheeses or for a light snack. I don’t even think that they use it for sandwiches.

For the texture, it is crunch from the inside and chewy and soft from the inside

Apparently, it is one of the things Turkish people miss most when they are abroad. How do I know!!! I am not Turkish, easy answer, I made it once, everybody at home loves it and we are already missing it.

Ingredients:
500g flour
1tbsp salt
1tbsp instant dried yeast
Warm water (roughly 300 ml)
A shallow bowl of sesame seeds
2 tbsp Pomegranate molasses diluted in 2 tbsp water
1 to 2 eggs (beaten)

Steps:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

1.      In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour and salt. On a side add the dry yeast

2.      Make a depression in the dry ingredients with your fist, making a "hole" in the middle. Gradually add the warm water and use your hands to draw in the flour from the sides until you get soft dough.

3.      Knead the dough for 10 minutes until it is smooth and elastic

4.      Put the dough backing the bowl, cover with a damp cloth and leave to prove and double in size (1 hour or 2)

5.      Punch the risen dough and knock it back into a ball of dough.

6.      Tear off pieces of dough (about 16). Use 2 balls of dough to make cigar shapes. Bring ends of "cigars" together to make a ring (look at picture).

7.      Dip the rings into diluted pomegranate molasses (in some water) or a beaten egg mixture, the dip again in a bowl of sesame seeds.

8.       Place circle on an oiled baking tray.

9.      Cover with a damp cloth and let rise again in a warm place for 30 minutes.

10.  Bake in a preheated oven (200ºC) for 20 to 30 minutes until golden brown

11.  Brush with milk. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Repeat with remaining dough.

12.  Bake for 30 minutes, or until simit become a golden brown color and crispy on top.

I tried few with black sesame seeds

My boys insisted on making their names with the last piece of dough
can you guess their names?