Take your homemade
bread starter out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before starting
to make the simits. If there is any water accumulated on top stir it
back into the starter with a spoon.
Measure 1.5 cup of the starter into a small bowl
and set it aside.
To replenish the starter, add 1 cup flour and 1
cup water to the container, mix and let stand at room temperature for
one hour before putting it back in the refrigerator. This way,
you can continue using the same starter for a long long time. It is
important to remember that the starter will get stronger with time.
After several months, you may completely skip the dry yeast, which is
quite helpful for people with yeast intolerance.
Mix the sugar, the dry yeast and 1/2 cup water
in a small bowl and leave to froth for 10 to 15 minutes.
Put the flour in a large mixing bowl. Make
a well in the center, pour in the home made starter, remaining water
and the foaming yeast. Work the mixture into a sticky dough using your
hands. At this point, if you have a stand-up mixer with a dough hook
you can tranfer half of the dough into the mixer bowl and knead the
dough for 5 - 7 minutes at the lowest speed. Since we have not added
the salt yet, the dough will continue to be sticky as it becomes smooth
and elastic.
Take the dough out of the mixing bowl and let stand
while applying the same process to the remaining half of the dough.
Tranfer the rested first half of the dough into
the mixer bowl and add 1.5 teaspoons salt and knead for another 5 minutes.
Repeat the same process with the second half of
the dough.
Bring the two halves of the dough together and
knead it to a large ball using your hands. Place the dough in a large
mixing bowl and let it rise at room temperature until it doubles
in size (about 2 hours).
Shaping the Simits:
Using a kitchen scale divide the dough into 18 pieces
weighing 100 gms each. Make smalls balls out of the pieces and place
them in a bowl as shown below.
Use your hands to roll each ball into a stick (11"
- 12" long).
Leave the rolled sticks on a lightly floured surface
for 10 to 15 minutes.
Twist the sticks before shaping them into rings.
Twisting creates the "white valleys" that are trademarks of
commercial simits, which are traditionally created by twisting two sticks
together.
Mix the molasses and the egg white with a whisk.
Evenly coat the simits with the molasses/egg white mixture.
Coat the simits with sesame seeds. The sesame seeds
should easily stick to the simits.
The following movie illustrates the above procedure.
You need to have Adobe
Flash Player installed in your computer to see this movie.
Preheat the oven to 440 degrees Fahrenheit for
20 minutes with the baking trays in it. Place the simits on the hot
trays and bake for 15 minutes. Turn them over and bake for another 4
minutes.
Serve with tea and good quality, imported feta cheese.
Take your 
