Simit in the UK: what it is, how to order it, where to find it
Quick answer
Simit is a ring of bread dipped in grape molasses and coated in sesame seeds, baked until crisp outside and chewy inside. It is the street bread of Istanbul, sold from carts and eaten with cheese and tea, and it is thinner, crisper and less doughy than a bagel, which it is often compared to. In the UK, Turkish bakeries bake it fresh every morning and it appears on every breakfast spread.
Calories and nutrition
- Calories
- 300
- Protein
- 10 g
- Carbs
- 55 g
- Fat
- 5 g
- Salt
- 1.1 g
260–340 kcal
Portion: One simit, about 100 g.
With white cheese, tomato and olives it becomes a 450 kcal breakfast.
Estimates for a typical portion, based on standard UK and USDA food composition data. Actual values depend on the recipe and the restaurant.
What simit is
A simple bread dough is rolled into a rope, twisted into a ring, dipped in diluted pekmez, grape molasses, and rolled in sesame seeds before a hot bake. The molasses gives the crust its colour and faint sweetness; the sesame gives the crunch. A good simit is thin, with a ring about the width of two fingers, crisp and dark outside and soft and slightly chewy inside, and it is at its best within an hour of the oven. Istanbul simit is the reference; Ankara simit is thicker and darker, and Izmir calls the same thing gevrek.
Simit versus bagel
A bagel is boiled before baking, which makes it dense and glossy; a simit is dipped in molasses and baked, which makes it lighter and crisper. A bagel is a bread for filling; a simit is a bread for tearing and eating with white cheese, tomato and olives, or on its own with tea. The sesame coating on a simit covers the whole surface, not just the top. UK supermarkets sell 'Turkish bagels' that are neither; a real simit comes from a Turkish bakery and costs under a pound.
How to judge it
Fresh simit crackles when you break it and the sesame does not fall off in sheets. The inside should be soft; a simit that is chewy all through is stale. It should smell of toasted sesame and molasses. The best bakeries bake in the morning and again in the afternoon, and sell out between. A simit more than a day old is for toasting.
Where in the UK it is done well
The Turkish bakeries of Green Lanes, Enfield and Edmonton bake simit daily by the hundred, and the kahvaltı houses serve it on every spread. The ranking below counts Turkish businesses in our directory whose name signals a bakery.
How to order it
Buy it in the morning from a bakery, not a supermarket. Eat it with white cheese, tomato, cucumber and tea for the classic breakfast, or tear it and dip in honey and kaymak. It does not keep; buy what you will eat today.
Where it's done well
UK councils with the most simit specialists, by restaurant name, in our directory.
Restaurants near you
Search by postcode or use your location to find restaurants likely to serve simit near you.
Make it at home
Serves 6 · 120 min
Ingredients
- 500 g strong white flour
- 7 g instant yeast
- 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar
- 300 ml warm water
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 4 tbsp grape molasses (pekmez) mixed with 4 tbsp water
- 150 g sesame seeds, lightly toasted
Method
- Mix the flour, yeast, salt and sugar, add the water and oil, and knead for ten minutes to a smooth dough. Cover and rest for an hour.
- Divide into six. Roll each piece into a rope 60 cm long, fold in half and twist the two strands together, then join the ends into a ring.
- Dip each ring in the molasses mixture, then press into the sesame seeds to coat all over.
- Rest on a tray for 20 minutes. Heat the oven to 240°C.
- Bake for 15 to 18 minutes until deep golden. Cool briefly and eat warm.
The molasses dip is what makes it simit; without it you have a sesame bread ring. Toasting the sesame first deepens the flavour.