Greek Sesame Bread Rings(koulouri Thessalonikis)
Chewy on the inside and crunchy on the outside, ring-shaped, sesame-coated bread. Koulouri or Simit is the perfect breakfast or snack.
Ingredients
Dough
- 30 g/1 ½ tbsp honey
- 16 g/2 tbsp dry yeast
- 300 ml/1 ¼ cup warm water
- 45 ml/3 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 7 g/1 ½ tsp salt
- 200 g/1 ½ cups bread flour
- 300 g/1 ¾ cups + 2 tbsp spelt flour
Coating
- 21 g/1 tbsp honey
- 120 ml/½ cup warm water
- 100 g/⅓ cup sesame seeds raw
Instructions
- Sift the flours into the mixer bowl, add the salt, and combine.
- Place the honey, dry yeast, ½ cup of warm water (120ml), and 1 tablespoon of the flour mixture in a liquid measuring bowl, and stir the ingredients until combined.
- Let it rest for 5 minutes until the yeast bubbles up. Measure and add the rest of the water.
- Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour the yeast into the mixing bowl. Using the dough/hook attachment, mix them at medium/high speed (for ~ 7 minutes, or until the dough comes clean from the sides of the bowl).
- Remove the dough from the bowl, coat it lightly with olive oil, place the dough back, and use plastic/cling wrap to seal it. Let the dough rise for 30-90 minutes.
- Before you shape the dough, prepare the coating. Use two bowls. In one bowl, place the sesame seeds. In the other bowl, prepare the honey-water mixture (mix the warm water with the honey until it dissolves).
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (425°F) fan and line two baking trays with parchment paper. Set them aside.
- Oil the working surface and place the dough. Cut the dough into 10 pieces (~ 85g/piece or 3oz/piece) or 20 pieces (~ 42g/piece or 1,48oz/piece).
- Shape the dough into a ring/bagel by making a long rope and attach the two endings, or for a braid form, make two ropes, put the one next to the other (in parallel) and twist them. Pitch the ends together to make a ring. Repeat for the remaining dough.
- Dip each piece in the honey water solution and directly into the sesame bowl.
- Place the bagels on the baking trays (5/tray) and bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden.
- Serve them warm and enjoy 😉
Notes
To make this recipe vegan we add 30 grams of maple syrup or sugar (2 ⅓ tbsp) instead of honey.
If you can find durum flour, use 200g (7oz) of durum flour and 300g (10.5oz) of all-purpose flour.
To make koulouria extra crunchy, spray some water in the oven right before baking them.
The higher the amount of gluten in the flour, the better the quality of koulouri will be.
For an extra nutty flavor use toasted sesame seeds.
If you want to use fresh yeast, multiply the amount by 3 and use this number (16x3=48 grams).
Store koulouria at room temperature, in an airtight container, for up to 4 days.
Freeze koulouria in a ziplock bag for up to 4 months.
Reheat in the oven or a panini/bread toaster until crispy.