J and I were sitting at a very early breakfast buffet at our hotel. We had set our alarms to be (embarrassingly) first in line for a street food in Istanbul, Turkey called Simit.
Simit is light and flaky, baked to a golden brown color, and topped with sesame seeds. It is sometimes formed into rings, and are often braided. Chewy like a bagel but the buttery flavor of a croissant, these tasty little devils are very addictive.
We’ve been lucky enough to travel internationally together and food has been more than an interest for both of us. We would tuck into small restaurants together and sheepishly take photos of everything from fiery shrimp fried rice served in a pineapple in Bangkok to strange dried shrimp and sake in Tokyo. Returning home, we’d try to recreate our favorites. Through all of these food-related adventures, we’ve started to learn new recipes together, laughed in the kitchen and formed a much stronger bond.
Back in Istanbul, J was realizing he couldn’t fill his luggage with Simit and was frowning. We had to try and make them back home. And so we did. Here’s the chewy, salty recipe. No travel to Turkey needed, but it’s highly recommended.
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoon milk plus 1 teaspoon
- 1 egg, beaten
- sesame seeds
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour and salt. Make a depression in the dry ingredients with your fist, making a “hole” in the middle. Add olive oil, melted butter, water, milk, and egg. Fold dry ingredients into liquids to form a dough. This may take 10 minutes by hand. Once you have a dough, tear off pieces of dough, make long, cigar shapes. Bring ends of “cigars” together to make a circle. Place circle on greased cookie sheet. Brush with milk. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Repeat with remaining dough. Bake for 30 minutes, or until Simit become a golden brown color and crispy on top.