While the Bakehouse still makes simit just four or five times a year, I believe with ever-greater strength that it’s going to be a Future Breadwinner (pun only slightly intended) for us— everyone who tries it loves it! Simit seems to be a hot commodity even outside Washtenaw County: Forbes reported last fall that simit has been the second-most-sought-out breakfast item on Google, with nearly 27 million searches annually.
While I love simit just as it is, it’s also great for sandwiches. Last summer, I wrote about a stellar one made with slices of ripe heirloom tomato, crumbled feta cheese, a generous amount of olive paste spread on the bread, and a few chopped fresh mint leaves to liven it all up. This week, I wanted to recommend two other terrific, super simple ways to enjoy simit—both of which I learned about from reading Turkish food writing. One is savory, one is sweet, and you can make either in a matter of minutes.
Simit with cultured butter. In Turkish, you would call this simit tereyağı. As food writer Andrew Lekashman says, “The angle is simplicity: this lives or dies on the quality of two things, and the temperature of one of them.” Fortunately, we’re in good shape here in the ZCoB on both counts. All you have to do is score some simit at the Bakeshop. Slice it across the center as you would a bagel, so you end up with a pair of golden, sesame-coated circles. Spread generously with that remarkably good Vermont Creamery Cultured Butter. The butter needs to be at room temperature, so be sure to get it out on the counter well before you’re going to use it. Together, the combination is simple but delicious! The creaminess of the butter and the crystals of French sea salt inside it are a perfect foil for the crunchy simit. Simit with chocolate hazelnut spread. This is a more modern pairing that’s apparently now widely eaten in Istanbul. There, what’s usually used is industrial Nutella, but here in the ZCoB, of course, we have the fantastic Noccioliva from Lazio in Central Italy—made with a high proportion of Piemontese hazelnuts, dark chocolate, and extra virgin olive oil. This stuff is awesome even eaten right out of the jar on a spoon, but when it’s spread onto freshly cut simit, the savoriness of the sesame and the bread make for a magical contrast with the sweet nuttiness of the Noccioliva. If you like, add some sliced bananas, too!
Hazim Tugun, longtime Bakehouse bread specialist, grew up in Turkish Cyprus, where simit is standard fare. He’s also just returning home from co-leading the first-ever Zingerman’s Food Tour to Turkey, and I’m eager to learn about his most recent simit-eating experiences. When I last wrote about simit, Hazim shared his personal history with it:
This beloved snack bread takes me back to my childhood. I still eat simit whenever I go back to Cyprus or Istanbul, especially for breakfast. Here, in our attempt to recreate this humble, traditional food, we combine locally grown and stone-milled wheat flour with a touch of in-house-milled durum flour in a stiff dough that we ferment, braid into a ring, dip in grape molasses, and cover with pre-toasted sesame seeds. After an extended overnight fermentation to further develop flavors, we bake these rings to a deep golden color. The aroma of freshly baked simit is enough to start bringing the memories back—but it’s that first bite that opens the magical portal for me. A bit of crunch gives way to a chewy interior, with the irresistible combination of savoriness from the toasted sesame seeds and a subtle, hard-to-put-your-finger-on sweetness from the grape molasses.
