🇹🇷 How to Make Simit

Craving Simit? On FoodNeverComes the food never actually comes — so here's how to make real Simit at home, in about 1 hr 30 min, with stuff you probably already have.

🛒 Ingredients

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• 500g flour
• 7g instant yeast
• 300ml warm water
• 1 tsp sugar, 1½ tsp salt
• 150g sesame seeds
• 4 tbsp grape molasses (pekmez) mixed with 150ml water

👩‍🍳 Method

1. Make a soft dough, knead 8 min until smooth, and prove 1 hr.
2. Divide into 8. Roll each into a 50cm rope, fold it in half and twist the two strands together, then join the ends into a ring.
3. Dip each ring fully into the diluted molasses — this is what makes simit dark and faintly sweet, not just a bagel.
4. Press both sides into a deep plate of sesame seeds. Be generous; simit should be armoured in them.
5. Rest 20 min on the tray.
6. Bake at 220°C for 15–18 min until deep mahogany. Best within about two hours, which is why Istanbul sells them from carts.