One of the things I love about Turkish food is that you can see history in so many dishes, unchanged for hundreds of years. I had no idea that the simple Simit, Turkish Sesame Bagel, has remained unchanged since the 1400’s.
Sufi historian, Evliya Celebi writes about how the palace would order simits each morning from the bakeries in Istanbul around 1660. He described Istanbul’s simit sellers in his famous book Seyahatname, “There were a total of 300 sellers and 70 bakeries that made simit five times each day. The last batch came out after dark, and the sellers threaded the rings onto long sticks fixed into the corners of their baskets or trays, and hung a small lantern at the top to attract the attention of the crowds on their way home after work.”
The ring-shaped bread Simit made from flour was named as the Simid-I Halka (Circle) and eventually the name just shortened itself to Simit. Much easier for the Simit sellers to yell their wares as they would walk the streets, selling the fresh baked rings. I remember growing up, windows wide open, hearing their carts go up and down the streets in the early mornings and the sellers calling out “SIMIIIIT! SIMIIIIT!”
Simit is best eaten fresh, warm with some white or feta cheese and tomatoes. The slight sweetness in the dough comes from Mahlep, or ground cherry pits. Just one spoonful of this powdered pits adds that slightly sweet flavor to ofset the savory.
They resemble bagels in that they are a yeasted dough, round, and dipped in seeds or nuts before baking. However, where bagels are boiled a bit in water, simit is dipped in Pekmez, grape molasses. After dipping in pekmez, they are drenched in sesame seeds and baking in a fire oven. The combination of the pekmez and fire oven give it the traditional caramel coloring and crunch.
I’ve made simit a few times. Still haven’t been able to master the nice brown color, even though I dip it in pekmez. They are still super crunchy and perfect addition to the breakfast spread. They don’t stay fresh long and get hard pretty fast. One of my favorite recipes can be found here.
Simit is one of those turkish staples that shows that you don’t mess with a good thing. As you can see from the photos below of the Simit Sellers, only the clothes have changed from 18th century to the 21 century. They still go around with their tri-legged table that fits over their shoulder, still only sell sesame, and still sell it through the streets or on the corners as they have been doing for the past 600 years.
Baranki breads are a style of Russian bread that is shaped like a ring and boiled before baking, similar to a bagel! They are typically made with wheat flour, water, yeast, salt and sometimes sugar, giving them a flavor that pairs well with both sweet and savory toppings.
The history of this soft, round bread with a hole in the middle comes from the encounter of the Jewish tradition of eastern Europe with its adoptive homeland, New York, where bagel becomes a popular and cosmopolitan street food. The origins seem to date back to medieval Poland and Italian traditions of the Renaissance. In 1610, bagel appears for the first time in the Jewish Community Regulations of Cracow which stated that this bread should be given as a gift to women in childbirth. Because of their circular shape, bagels were also regarded in History as symbols of good luck and a continuous life cycle.
A ring-shaped bread, a bun with a hole in the middle, just another food trend coming from New York? Well, actually all of this and more.
You can fill bagels with almost anything: from sweet to salty, passing through all the contrasts of spicy and sweet and sour.
Probably for all these reasons, bagel tastes like “real bread”. It smells of flour with a slight aftertaste of malt and its texture is unique: chewy and soft with a crisp crust due to the double cooking process (boiled and then baked) and the long proofing.
First proofing (from 7 pm to 10 am)Allow the dough to rise a bit at room temperature. Transfer the dough, placed in a closed plastic container, to the fridge to let it rise slowly overnight.
I’ve made simit a few times. Still haven’t been able to master the nice brown color, even though I dip it in pekmez. They are still super crunchy and perfect addition to the breakfast spread. They don’t stay fresh long and get hard pretty fast. One of my favorite recipes can be found here.
Simit is one of those turkish staples that shows that you don’t mess with a good thing. As you can see from the photos below of the Simit Sellers, only the clothes have changed from 18th century to the 21 century. They still go around with their tri-legged table that fits over their shoulder, still only sell sesame, and still sell it through the streets or on the corners as they have been doing for the past 600 years.
The ring-shaped bread Simit made from flour was named as the Simid-I Halka (Circle) and eventually the name just shortened itself to Simit. Much easier for the Simit sellers to yell their wares as they would walk the streets, selling the fresh baked rings. I remember growing up, windows wide open, hearing their carts go up and down the streets in the early mornings and the sellers calling out “SIMIIIIT! SIMIIIIT!”
One of the things I love about Turkish food is that you can see history in so many dishes, unchanged for hundreds of years. I had no idea that the simple Simit, Turkish Sesame Bagel, has remained unchanged since the 1400’s.
Sufi historian, Evliya Celebi writes about how the palace would order simits each morning from the bakeries in Istanbul around 1660. He described Istanbul’s simit sellers in his famous book Seyahatname, “There were a total of 300 sellers and 70 bakeries that made simit five times each day. The last batch came out after dark, and the sellers threaded the rings onto long sticks fixed into the corners of their baskets or trays, and hung a small lantern at the top to attract the attention of the crowds on their way home after work.”
How to Shape a Rosemary and Potato Ring
FAQ
What are the different shapes of loaves?
What is the bread in the shape of a ring?
What is the name of the Turkish round bread?
What is rounded bread called?
What is a ring shaped loaf?
Traditionally this ring-shaped loaf is composed of six to eight balls of country bread dough, blanketed by another flat disk of dough that holds the loaf together. By process of this clever design, as the couronne bakes, the disk of dough rises away from the balls, making it seem as though the loaf was expertly scored rather than simply shaped.
What does a ring shaped loaf of bread symbolize?
These ring-shaped loaves of bread with three different crystalized fruits on top, symbolize the biblical story of Gaspar, Melchior and Balthazar. The three Magi, according to the Gospel of Matthew and Christian tradition, are said to have visited baby Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
What is a ring made of flour called?
Festus states that “rings made of flour for sacrifices are called arculata “, which follows his definition for arculum, “a crown-like headpiece worn when carrying sacred vessels at public sacrifices”.
What is a couronne shaped loaf pan?
You’ll certainly delight in discovering the couronne (or crown) shaping method. For those of you who are new to bread shaping or are daunted by the thought of stepping outside the bounds of an 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ loaf pan, fear not. The couronne will make you look like a pro. The couronne technique comes to us from the Bordeaux region in France.