Turkish Simit

I saw this recipe when I was looking for an international street food. In turkey, Simit is a famous street food. Simit vendors sell it loaded in special carts. This fitted the bill perfectly and I bookmarked it immediately. But then I never got a chance to try it and after so much of procrastinating, I made these crispy chewy sesame rings today. I halved the original recipe and made 8 small simits. When relished when warm, they have a crispy crust and chewy interior and it reminded me of the pretzel I made earlier. The making is quite easy. The only work is the kneading of the dough for 10 minutes and the other steps are easier. The original recipe mentioned about dipping the dough circles in molasses and coating with sesame seeds. As I didn’t have molasses, I dipped them in milk and coated with sesame seeds. May be it was missing the sweetness from the molasses. But still it tasted good. I am linking this to Yeastspotting….

Recipe Source: AZ Cookbook
Makes 8 small Simits
Ingredients:
Flour/ Maida-2 cups
Instant Yeast-1 3/4 tsp
Salt-3/4 tsp
Sugar- a pinch
Warm Water-3/4 cup
Milk-1/4 cup ( Use Molasses if available)
White Sesame Seeds-1 cup

Procedure:
1. In a bowl mix flour, sugar, salt and instant yeast.
2. Add warm water and prepare a soft dough.
3. Transfer the dough to the counter and knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic.
4. Place in a bowl, apply oil on top of dough, cover with a cling wrap and allow it to rise for 2 hours.
5. Now knead the dough again and divide it into 8 equal portions.
6. Roll each portion into a 12″ long rope.
7. Twist the rope and bring both ends together.
8. Pinch to seal.
9. Prepare the remaining dough portions into rings.
10. Cover with a wet cloth and let t sit on counter for 1 hour.
11. Now take milk in a deep plate and sesame seeds in a plate.
12. Grease a baking tray.
13. Dip the prepared ring in milk and then transfer to the sesame seeds.
14. Coat the surface with sesame seeds.
15. Place the prepared ring on the tray.
16. Finish off the remaining rings.
17. Cover with cloth and let it rest for 20 minutes.
18. Preheat oven to 200C.
19. Bake the rings for 25-30 minutes or until the crust is golden.
20. Remove from oven and serve warm with jam and butter.

Logo courtesy : Preeti

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