Sesame ring
A sesame ring ( Turkish : Simit ) is a ring-shaped yeast dough pastry with sesame seeds on the crust. The pastry, which resembles a donut or a bagel , is widespread in Southeastern Europe and Turkey.
Distribution and names
In Turkey, Simit is mainly available over the counter from mobile street vendors. The freshness of the Simit can usually be seen in the quantity on offer; the fewer are still on sale, the older they are. In the İzmir region , Simit is also known as gevrek (literally: crispy ), nationwide the word «simit» is more common.
In the north of Greece is called the sesame ring Koulouri (κουλούρι) after the ancient bread Kollyra , which was circular, and only the slaves reserved. In late antiquity (Byzantium) the sesame ring Koulourion spread from Thessaloniki, but the sesame ring did not reach southern Greece until the 20th century. Another name was Simiti , which came back into Greek from Semidalis (Greek for durum wheat) via Semiz (Arabic) and Simit (Turkish).
In Bulgaria and North Macedonia Gewrek (Геврек), in Serbia the rings are called Đevrek (Ђеврек). In Romania , the pastry is available as a covrig, among other things, in variants with salt or poppy seeds as well as sweet with apple or cherry filling.
Ingredients and serving dish
The ingredients are yeast, water, flour, butter, salt, sesame, possibly also ararot (English arrow root , German arrow root flour ). The batter is similar to that of pretzels .
The risen yeast dough is rolled into sausages and formed into rings, then immersed in boiling water for half a minute, then turned in sesame seeds and finally baked in the oven. An important feature is the cracked crispy crust with a soft inner batter. The properties of the sesame ring vary somewhat from region to region. Traditionally, the pastries are served with black tea , sheep cheese and olives . It is eaten at any time of the day, with breakfast also with jelly, jam or cheese.
Web links
- Video: Simit sales and presentation , 3:32 min. (Turkish)