Baked goods: Turkish sesame rings arrived in Germany

Bakery products
Turkish sesame rings arrived in Germany

The Turkish sesame rings are no longer an exotic choice in the range of local bakeries. They also talk about how the Turkish community has arrived over the decades since the first days of guest workers.

For traditional Simits you need flour, yeast, water, baking powder, sugar, grape syrup, sesame and a bit of margarine, says Mehmet Çevik, owner of the Çevik bakery in Berlin-Wedding.

When making the pastry, two coils of dough are twisted together and formed into a ring. This creates the ring shape. “That’s the typical mark,” explains Orhan Tançgil, founder and owner of the blog “KochDichTürkisch” (Düsseldorf).

The classic ring shape has evolved over time. The pastries were often used as food for travellers, and were easier to transport in ring form, stacked on wooden sticks. In his view, a good Simit is “crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside. Like a good pretzel.”

“It’s called by its name”

The pastry is not only popular with the Turkish community in Berlin, says Ayşe Demir, spokeswoman for the Turkish Association in Berlin-Brandenburg. You can also tell by the fact that the baked goods are now often known by their Turkish names. “Even people who aren’t from Turkey say Simit,” says Demir. “People call it by its name – like pide or kebab.”

“It’s important for us,” says Tançgil. Calling things by their correct names helps create identity.

Çevik also sees the growing popularity in the numbers: “Before, between 50 and 100 people left the counter. Now there are over 200,” he says. A total of 400 to 500 sesame rings are produced in his bakery every day. “Berlin has just become multicultural,” says Çevik. In the early 1970s, his father was one of the first to bring the Turkish bakery trade to Berlin.

dpa