Simit

Simit, one of the most popular street food in Turkey is a circular shaped bread with sesame seeds, often eaten plain or with jam or joghurt for breakfast and commonly is sold by vendors along streets (almost every corner of the city, especially in Istanbul) who sell it from their trolleys or from their trays what they carry on their heads.

  

You can meet many different types of simit, all which are at least as tasty as the famous Istanbul version. The rich variety is sometimes due to different ingredients, sometimes due to the baking technique and sometimes due just to a special shape.

In Turkish culture people generally drink tea with simit, some prefer it with ayran as well. 

My favorite and most popular simit - breakfast place is Simit Sarayı ın Turkey. Simit Sarayı (means: Simit Palace) is a fast food restaurant where many kind of simit products, pastry and baked gooda are sold freshly all day long. For instance plain simit, simit with cheese, tomato, olives, sucuk (Turkish spıcy sausage), börek, açma, poğaça, wraps, pita bread sandwiches and of course sweet products also such as baklava, sütlaç (Turkish rice pudding), muffins and other cakes.

Simitçi in Istanbul

I love reading Elif's blog since his husband also comes from Kayseri as M. Yesterday she was a big help for me when I decided to bake simit.

These cute simits will be my and my colleagues' breakfast today.

Ingredients (6 pieces):
50 dkg flour
1/2 package dry yeast (3,5 g) or 1/4 package fresh yeast (1,25 dkg)
0,25 dl milk
1/2 teaspoon sugar
0,25 dl oil
2 dl water
2 teaspoon salt

+ pekmez (It's available in every Turkish supermarket. If you don't have at home you can use water also as I did yesterday.)
+ sesame seeds (yesterday I used linseed)

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm milk and let stand about 10 minutes in a warm place until frothy.

In a big bowl mix the flour, salt, oil and add the yeast mix. Start to knead adding water constantly to it. Knead at least 15 minutes by hand (or hand mixer) until the dough is very smooth and springy. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and set aside for 15-20 minutes.

Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces. Split each pieces in two, roll each of these small balls into a 35-40 cm long rope. Lay the two ropes next to each other on the counter. Press their upper ends then braid them carefully and form this braided rope into ring.

Preheat the oven to 250°C.

Put water in a smaller plate, sesame seeds in another one. Dip each simit rings first in the water then in the sesame seeds. Lay the ready simits on a baking paper.

Bake them in the oven for 20-25 minutes until rich golden brown.

The best is eating simit freshly, immediately taking out from the oven but you can also put in the freezer and when you wanna eat fresh simit again you just need to take out from the freezer and warm it up in the oven within a few minutes.

Afiyet olsun!