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Whole Wheat Sesame Rings (Simit)
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- Total Time
- About 5 hours (30 minutes active work)
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 85grams / about ½ cup semolina flour
- 95grams / about ¾ cup unbleached all purpose flour
- 330grams / about 2⅔ cups whole wheat flour
- 1¼teaspoons salt
- 1teaspoon ground mahlab (optional)
- ¾teaspoon instant yeast
- 1½cups / 355 ml lukewarm water
- 1tablespoon agave syrup, malt syrup, or honey
- 1egg, beaten or 2 tablespoons grape or pomegranate molasses dissolved in ¼ cup water
- 1cup / 100 grams toasted sesame seeds
- Optional: 1 egg white, beaten
Preparation
- Step 1
Combine flours, salt and optional mahlab in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle and stir together or mix at low speed until combined. Dissolve yeast in water. Add agave syrup or honey and stir together.
- Step 2
At low speed, add water and yeast mixture to flour and mix for 1 minute. Remove paddle and let sit for 5 minutes. Change to dough hook and mix dough (or knead by hand) for about 5 minutes. Dough will be stiff and slightly sticky. Let sit for 5 minutes.
- Step 3
Lightly oil work surface and shape dough into a ball. Clean, dry and lightly oil mixing bowl and place dough in it, rounded side down first, then rounded side up. Cover bowl with plastic (plastic should not be touching dough) and let rise at room temperature for about 3 hours, until doubled.
- Step 4
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment and lightly oil parchment. In a wide bowl, combine pomegranate or grape molasses and ¼ cup water and stir together, or beat egg with 2 tablespoons water.
- Step 5
Turn dough onto a lightly oiled work surface and shape into a ball. Divide into 8 to 10 equal pieces and shape each piece into a ball. Cover loosely with plastic and let sit for 20 minutes. Roll out each piece into a rope, approximately 12 to 14 inches long. Holding one end of the rope, twist it a few times, then join ends together, overlapping by about an inch and pinching together so they stay connected. The hole should be about 2 to 2½ inches. Dip into molasses solution or egg, coating both sides well, then dip into sesame seeds, flip over and coat other side. Place on baking sheets, allowing at least 1 inch of space between rings. Cover loosely with plastic and let rest for 20 to 30 minutes. Meanwhile heat oven to 400 degrees with the rack arranged in the middle. Place a pan on the bottom of the oven.
- Step 6
Carefully pour 1 cup of water into the tin on the floor of the oven. Bake each sheet on the middle rack of the oven for 30 to 35 minutes (you can refrigerate the second baking sheet while the first one is baking to prevent the rings from rising too much), flipping the rings over so they don’t brown too much on one side after 15 to 20 minutes, and if desired, brushing with egg white halfway through. Another way to prevent too much browning on the bottom is to slide another baking sheet under baking sheet (if you have enough of them to spare). Remove pan of water after 10 minutes. Rings should be dark brown and respond to tapping on the bottom with a hollow sound. Remove from heat and cool before eating.
- For accuracy I recommend weighing the flour.
- The rings are best if eaten on the day they are baked but they freeze well.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Just a note that pomegranate molasses tastes VERY different than grape molasses. Would you please explain how they can be interchangeable? ( I have seen grape or date molasses in other recipes but not pomegranate molasses) is it used just to add color to Simit?
I used rye sourdough starter and let the dough rise overnight in the refrigerator. Not traditional but very tasty. Since I weigh my starter components I was able to subtract the flour and water contributed by it.
Really nice, but I think it could use a bit more salt and be rolled out even longer. Mine came out looking like bagels.
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