The Turkish sesame-covered bread ring is called simit.
Simit is a circular, chewy bread typically coated generously with sesame seeds before baking. It is usually eaten plain or with cheese, preserves, fruit, tea or ayran, and it remains one of Turkey’s most recognizable everyday street foods. Its texture can range from crisp and deeply browned to softer and chewier depending on the region.
The ring has a long history across the former Ottoman world. Related breads are known as koulouri in Greece, gevrek in parts of Turkey and the Balkans, and bokegh in Armenia. The Turkish word simit is linked to Arabic samīd, referring to fine flour or white bread.
Simit is often compared with a bagel because both are ring-shaped breads, but they are not identical. Simit is commonly dipped in water and grape molasses before receiving its sesame coating, while bagels are traditionally boiled before baking. Istanbul has produced simit since at least 1525, and 17th-century records describe dozens of simit bakeries there.