Açma are soft, faintly sweet, brioche-like rings of enriched yeast dough, rich with oil or butter and milk and pillowy throughout, usually finished with a scatter of sesame seeds. Sold from the same red carts and bakery cases as simit, they are its soft counterpart — where simit is crisp, dark and sesame-crusted, açma is pale, tender and tear-apart soft. Eaten for breakfast or with afternoon tea, plain or split around white cheese, they are a staple of the Turkish morning.
The name açma comes from the Turkish verb açmak, to open or unfold, describing both the way the soft dough is stretched and shaped into its ring and the way the baked bread pulls open in tender strands. It belongs to the modern repertoire of Turkish bakery breakfast breads sold alongside simit, poğaça and the sesame ring, rather than to any documented court or festival tradition; its identity is as everyday street-and-bakery food. Açma sits within the wider family of enriched, slightly sweet Turkish yeast breads, distinguished from simit chiefly by being soft rather than crisp and by carrying far more fat in the dough.
A fresh açma is light, springy and soft all the way through, pulling apart into fluffy strands like a brioche rather than crumbling. It is only faintly sweet, with a buttery, milky richness and a soft, thin crust that gives no resistance; the sesame on top adds a gentle toastiness. It is comfort food, mild and yielding — split one open while still warm and tuck in a slice of white cheese, or eat it plain with tea. It stales quickly, going dense within a day, so it is very much a same-day, eaten-warm bread.
Açma is a heavily enriched dough — generous oil or butter plus milk and sometimes egg — and that high fat content is what makes it so soft: the fat coats the gluten strands and tenderizes the crumb so it stays pillowy rather than chewy. The dough must be kneaded well to develop enough gluten to trap gas and give the springy pull, then proved twice, with a generous final rise that lets the rings puff before baking. The dough is softer and slacker than simit dough and is shaped gently. It is baked in a moderate oven only until just golden — over-baking dries out the tender crumb and hardens the thin crust that is meant to stay soft.
Variations
The plain sesame-topped ring is the standard. Some bakeries make a filled açma, sealing a little chocolate spread, white cheese or tahini-and-grape-molasses inside before shaping. Sizes range from small tea-time rings to larger breakfast ones, and the amount of sugar varies from barely sweet to noticeably so. The recipe shares its enriched, soft character with poğaça but is distinguished by its ring shape, lighter sweetness and the simit-style sesame finish.
On the Palate
Where Açma sits in the Turkish flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 10
How it's made
6 steps · 2 hours 30 min
- 18 min
Warm the milk, dissolve the yeast and sugar in it, and leave until frothy.
Watch outWait for the yeast to go frothy on top — no foam means it's dead and the açma will bake dense instead of pillowy.
- 212 min
Add oil or softened butter, egg, salt and flour, and knead to a soft, smooth, elastic dough.
Watch outKnead until the dough turns smooth and springs back — under-kneaded, it can't trap gas for that soft pull.
- 375 min
Cover and prove in a warm place until doubled.
- 415 min
Divide into pieces, roll each into a rope and join the ends into a ring, or coil into a soft round.
- 545 min
Set the rings on a lined tray, brush with egg, dip or scatter the tops with sesame seeds, and leave to rise again until puffy.
- 622 min
Bake in a moderate oven until just golden and serve warm.
Watch outPull them the instant the tops turn pale gold — a minute too long dries out the tender crumb and hardens the ring.
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