Score Some Simit This Weekend

A Special Bake of the bread of Turkey on 4/17 & 4/18

I know I wrote about these terrific Turkish treats a few months ago. But, man, they’re so good, and so special that I want to spend some time here on them again!

In the January 1995 issue of The Atlantic, friend and food writer Corby Kummer published a long piece about his visit to Istanbul the previous year. He opened by sharing all the downsides of the city, but then, in a lovely authorial about-face, announced to everyone, “I’d go back in a minute. In the course of a 10-day visit I recently made, Istanbul lodged in my soul.” After detailing a number of the cultural and culinary highlights of the visit, Corby got to the heart of the culinary matter:

My survival food was simit, big dark rings of sesame-covered bread stacked on pushcarts all over the city: vendors carrying wooden trays laden with them, often still warm, are a frequent and welcome sight. A simit is more than a sesame bagel ever dreamed it could be.

All these years later, simit is still going strong. Travel writer Laura McVeigh, in a February 2026 piece titled “What the Ottomans Knew About Sustainability,” shares her experience of simit in the 21st century and also of its history.

Simit is warm, topped with crunchy sesame seeds. Found all over the city today, they’re just one of many reminders of the Ottoman past. The first simit being enjoyed in the 16th century, and according to 17th-century explorer and travel writer Evliya Çelebi, by the 1630s, over 70 simit bakeries had opened up in the city, such was the Turkish demand.

In Turkey, as Corby said, Simit is a critical component of everyday eating. Simit is a single word that conveys the baker’s art and instantly evokes a sense of community, country, and culture for anyone who is either from Turkey or has spent meaningful time there. The last time I was in Istanbul was many decades ago, well before we opened the Deli in 1982. And yet, like Corby, I still remember the simit. Hazim Tugun, longtime Bakehouse bread specialist, grew up in Turkish Cyprus, where simit is standard fare. (The last time I wrote about simit, Hazim shared his experience with it and described how it takes him back to his childhood.)

You can’t yet survive on simit here in Ann Arbor, but maybe you’ll be able to soon enough. I’m ready! In under a year, the Bakehouse’s Simit has become the no-longer-secret, great new product in the ZCoB. We’ve got them as a Special Bake at the Bakehouse this weekend, Friday the 23rd and Saturday the 24th. I’d say either get to the Bakeshop early (they come out of the oven at 11 am) or order ahead. I have a feeling that, as the weather warms up around here, even with us making more of them than ever, they’re going to sell out quickly. They are, quite simply, super good!

If you lived in Turkey, of course, simit would be the everyday and everywhere fare for walking to work, riding the subway, or sitting down to a lovely meal. Here, they’re still new to most folks who are neither Turkish nor have traveled to Turkey, but as I said, they’re already catching on quickly!

Here at the Bakehouse, we’re beyond excited to bring simit into our repertoire. A wonderful taste of Turkey that anyone who’s intrigued—or, like me, already in love—can try out this coming weekend!

Order ahead