Call Them Turkish Bagels, Sesame Kebab, or Simit, But...
...don't call me late for a morning pick-me-up
The Shams sisters’ Sunshine Spice Cafe in Boise blew my mind with their Turkish bagels (simit) a few months back.
Served with honey and cream cheese, their sesame and poppyseed simit tasted like a cross between a bialy (a Polish bagel) and a pretzel. Crunchy on the outside, pillowy and stretchy inside — from kneading and a good rise — they’re the perfect accompaniment to a morning cup of coffee or tea.
I never intended on making simit. It seemed too hard, too intricate, judging by the stretchy strands of bready goodness when you tear a piece off to dip.
But, one day last week, I said, “What the hell,” and looked online for doable recipes.
I immediately came upon Alpha Foodie’s, so I figured I’d try to make Turkish bagels for Bible study next Monday, then it became making some now, just to see how they’d turn out.
Her recipe only required one hard-to-find ingredient when you’re living in no-man’s-land Twin Falls, ID: grape molasses. You can use regular molasses, barley malt syrup, or honey, but the taste isn’t the same.
I wanted the taste to be the same.
I ordered my grape molasses on Amazon, timing the bake for when it arrived (yesterday).
Only, halfway in, I realized I didn’t have enough roasted sesame seeds. I prepared the dough as instructed, then left it to rise in my oven with the light on for one hour, and told my husband that’s how much time he had to go to the Asian market and buy more.
We made it!
When I began to roll out the portioned dough into long, thin logs (she says 30 inches), I went into an altered state, as if I’d been doing this for a hundred years. I didn’t have any trouble getting into a rhythm and making my hands roll out from the middle, from both ends.
The only problem I ran into was the length. Thirty inches is way too long, I found. So, I cut the length in half, trying to keep them bagel sized.
Another recipe suggests rolling them out to 22 inches, then bending in half before twisting and joining. A video on Instagram shows experienced simit makers rolling the joined edges before deep frying.
Many small issues arose during the process:
The cereal bowl I used wasn’t wide enough to dip the rings into the molasses mixture. Next time, I’ll use a large glass pie baking dish. For the sesame seeds too.
After the first dip, sesame seeds got wet and went everywhere but on the dough rings. I’ll try to be neater and just coat completely before turning over on the other side. Bincy Chris on YouTube does this well.
Use more sesame seeds than the recipe calls for. You want to totally cover the entire ring, for every ring. Otherwise, you’ll get uneven heating, with some darker than others.
Watch the dough, not the oven time. Twenty-25 minutes in a 475-degree F oven is way too long. I set mine to bake for 20 minutes and walked away. They were burning slightly, with five-three minutes left. Start checking at 10 minutes and pull when they look golden on top.
They don’t have to be rings. They can be oval-shaped for sandwiches.
This recipe makes 14. Serve with honey and cream cheese.
They reheat well the next day.
Mine came out decent, even two or three of the slightly burnt ones. I didn’t get the stretchy dough, like at Sunshine Spice Cafe. But that should come with time and practice.
The next batch will go into the fridge for an overnight rise and a 30-minute second rise after I form the rings. I’ll be sure to watch the dough, not the oven.
