Sesame Bread Rings
Twisted bread rings dipped in grape molasses and generously coated with sesame.
The Turkish pantry
Grape molasses
Grape molasses, or üzüm pekmezi, brings concentrated grape sweetness to tahini and helps sesame cling to simit. The same bottle serves two different jobs, so follow the recipe’s mixing or dilution step.
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Concentrated grape pekmez. Mulberry, carob, date and sugar-cane molasses are different ingredients, even when their colors look similar.
Types & forms
Grape pekmez
A sweet grape concentrate; thickness and flavor vary between products.
Other fruit pekmez or blended syrups
Different fruit sources or added ingredients; they should not be silently substituted.
What to look for when buying
- Look for grape or üzüm on the label and read the ingredients. Choose an unflavored product for the linked recipes.
- Check the sealed container and storage directions. A familiar brand’s different fruit pekmez is still a different ingredient.
Prepare & cook
- For tahin pekmez, stir the tahini first if its oil has separated, then combine with pekmez as the recipe directs. Adjust the mixture deliberately rather than assuming every bottle tastes equally sweet.
- For simit, dilute the measured pekmez as instructed before coating the dough. Use a shallow dish for even coating, then apply sesame while the surface is wet.
Store it well
- Keep the rim and lid clean, close tightly and follow the bottle’s instructions after opening. Do not return a used bread-dipping spoon to the container.
- Keep the main bottle separate from diluted simit dipping liquid. Prepare only the dipping mixture needed; do not pour used diluted liquid back into the bottle.
Substitutions depend on the dish
Another fruit pekmez
Changes the fruit flavor and possibly consistency; use only as an intentional adaptation.
Pomegranate molasses
Its tartness serves a different purpose and does not replace grape sweetness directly.
Nutrition
No verified nutrition data is available for this ingredient.
At the Turkish table
Tahin pekmez pairs sesame paste with grape concentrate at breakfast. In simit, diluted pekmez is a coating step rather than a sauce poured over the finished bread.
Cook with Grape molasses
Tahini and Grape Molasses
Creamy sesame tahini swirled with dark grape molasses for spreading or dipping.
Bread Pudding with Clotted Cream
A porous, golden-brown bread absorbs plain sugar syrup and is served in wedges with buffalo-milk clotted cream. The bread is baked and dried before its final stovetop cooking.
Dolaz
Kayseri’s finely textured flour-and-molasses dessert, cooked with butter and spread on a shallow dish. Served warm with walnuts, it is a simple sweet for winter evenings.