Nov 163 min read

Turkey - Italy: sesame Simit meets raw ham and anchovies

Let's take a trip to Turkey today and prepare Simit, a delicious donut-shaped sesame bread that is sold everywhere in Istanbul, on carts or by street vendors in trays carried on the head. Simit is one of the cheapest and most consumed street foods in the country.

These donuts are delicious both alone and accompanied with black tea, olives, cheese, boiled eggs or for breakfast combined with yogurt, jam and jelly.

We offer them to you with raw ham, Taggiasca olives and salad and with tomatoes, anchovies and oregano, two Fusion versions between the two gastronomic cultures of Italy and Turkey, the pairing with other cured meats is also spot on. Even with a good chickpea or pea hummus they are delicious.

Once braided they are immersed in a grape molasses - Pekmez - which gives them their classic brown colour. You can find Pekmez in ethnic product shops, but we opted for a molasses based on water and honey. If you buy it, put 2/3 tablespoons in 200 ml of water.

Ingredients for 4/5 donuts

Simit:

200 g of 00 flour
50 g of manitoba flour
7 g of dehydrated brewer's yeast
10 g of sugar
15 ml of olive oil
120 ml of water
1 teaspoon of salt

for the molasses:

20 g of honey
200 ml of water
sesam seeds

Pea hummus:

250 g of peas
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 spoonful of tahini sauce
salt
a few mint leaves
1 tablespoon of olive oil

Procedure:

Simit: mix the two sifted flours, add the sugar, yeast, water and oil and knead. When the mixture has taken on a good consistency, add the salt. Knead until you obtain a homogeneous dough.

Cover with cling film and leave to rise in the oven with the light on for about an hour and a half.

Molasses: mix 200 ml of water with 20 g of honey (or with 273 tablespoons of Pekmez) and prepare plenty of sesame seeds in a plate or salad bowl, depending on how many donuts you make.

Preheat the oven to 250°C.

Now take the leavened dough, sprinkle the pastry board with flour and knead your leavened dough giving it the shape of a loaf, cut it into 4/5 equal pieces and place the ones you don't use in the container where they had risen, covering them with cling film so as to that they remain moist.

With the first piece of dough, create a loaf and continue to stretch it with your hands until it has reached a length of about 60 cm. At this point fold it into a U and join the two cords. Take the two ends and roll them in the opposite direction to create a twist, then fold them to create a donut. Watch the video below.

When you have finished creating all the donuts, dip them in the molasses and then dip them in the sesame seeds. Place them on a baking tray covered with baking paper and cook for about 15 minutes at 250°C and then another 20 minutes or so at 220°C. The donuts should take on a nice golden brown colour.

Filling: have fun! Cucine dal Mondo 5 prepared them in two ways:

1) Gently cut them in half once they are completely cold, sprinkle the lower surface with extra virgin olive oil, then stuff with salad leaves, raw ham, Taggiasca olives in oil if you like some thinly sliced red onion and a few cherry tomatoes.

2) Cut some cherry tomatoes into cubes, season them in a salad bowl with oregano, oil, salt. Then arrange them on the Simit, add some anchovies in oil and some chives cut with scissors.