Sesame bread rings – Koulouria Thessalonikis

Sesame bread rings or Koulouria Thessalonikis, as we call them, are the most popular morning snack in Greece. You can find them in every bakery, from the smallest village to the biggest town, fresh from the oven every morning.  A chewy and soft bread-like cookie with a crunchy sesame surface makes the perfect pair for a cup of coffee or the perfect snack with a piece of your favorite cheese. The traditional is plain without any savory or sweet additions but the last few  years we can find koulouria with feta, olives, dried tomato or even chocolate and raisins.

The koulouri is not only very tasty but also very healthy and with low calories, so is ideal for a light meal at work, for children at school, something to eat in a hurry or something to eat slowly just to enjoy! The sesame on the surface is a nutrition treasure (if i can say so) for our body and mind. The benefits for our health are so many that is considered to be one of the healthiest foods in planet earth. Is this another reason to make that tasteful bread ring or not? You decide.

The recipe that I give you is for the traditional ones but you can add whatever you want that you think it would be tasty. It is a simple dough and a simple procedure. Make the dough, shape the rings, dip them into a mixture of water and sugar and then into the sesame seeds and bake them. You will need a little more time for the dough to rest between the stages but I will explain all these in details at the recipe below.

As the most of the baked goods the koulouria are best eaten the same day. Nevertheless if you cannot eat all of the 20 koulouria that the recipe makes in one day you can freeze them up to 2 weeks.

I hope you will like them as all Greeks do.

Print Recipe

Sesame bread rings - Koulouria Thessalonikis

(15 votes, average: 4.73 out of 5)

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Serves: 20

Cooking Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

• for the dough
• 1 kg bread flour
• 500ml water
• 30 gr fresh yeast
• 80 gr sugar
• 20 gr salt
• 100 ml olive oil
• for the 'water bath'
• 500 ml water
• 2 tablespoon sugar
• for coating
• 250 gr sesame seeds

Instructions

1

In a big bowl mix the water, the yeast and the sugar until the sugar and the yeast are dissolved.

2

Add the flour and the salt and knead by hand until you get a soft but not sticky dough. If it is necessary you can add a little more flour.

3

Add the olive oil and continue to knead to incorporate the oil and get a soft and smooth dough.

4

Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let the dough rest for about 10 minutes.

5

In another bowl put the water and the sugar for the 'water bath' and mix very well to dissolve the sugar. Put the sesame seeds in a large bowl or in a tray.

6

Now it is time to shape the Koulouria. Take a piece of dough about 80 gr and roll it to a 'rope' about 1 to 1.5 cm diameter.Press the two ends of the 'rope' together to form a ring.

7

Dip the ring into the water and then into the sesame seeds coating both sides.

8

Place the rings on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and let them rise for 15-20 minutes.

9

Preheat the oven at 200°C.

10

Bake the rings for 20-25 minutes until golden.