Koulouri: The Bagel of the Greeks
Did you know that Greeks have bagels too? They’re called Koulouri and they are super popular throughout Greece. These delicious circles of sesame are really easy to make and can be enjoyed as is, or as a base for a delicious sandwich.
Ingredients
Koulouri - Greek Bagel Ingredients
4 cups (500 g) all purpose flour
2 tsp (9 g) dry yeast
2 tsp (9 g) granulated sugar
1 ⅓ cups (310 ml) warm water
1 tablespoon (18 g) salt
2 tablespoons (28 g) extra virgin greek olive oil
Sesame seeds (a lot of them)
How to make a Koulouri - Greek Bagels at Home
Koulouri - Greek Bagel Recipe:
First we’re going to take 310 milliliters or one and ⅓ cups of warm water to which we’ll add 2 teaspoons or 9 grams of yeast, and 2 teaspoons or 9 grams of sugar.
Once in there, whisk it up so everyone can get to know each other and let the mixture rest for 8 to 10 minutes in order to bloom.
Next, to our mixer bowl, we’ll add 500 grams or 4 cups of all purpose flour, 18 grams or 1 tablespoon of kosher salt, and 28 grams or 2 tablespoons of Greek extra virgin olive oil.
Once the ingredients are added to the bowl, attach it to your mixer and set it to low speed.
Slowly add the wet ingredients in, increase the speed to low/medium, and let it mix for 8 to 10 minutes, or until it’s nice and elastic.
Take the newly formed dough baby out, form it into a ball, and place it into an oiled bowl, where we’ll cover in plastic wrap.
Let though dough rest for at least an hour and a half depending on how warm your environment is, so it can rise. Pro Tip: I always like to turn on the light in my oven to create a little heat and let my dough rise in there. It creates a nice and warm environment and promotes a good rise. Oh yah… definitely don't actually turn on the oven… that’s bad.
Once risen, the dough should look nice and puffed.
Take the dough out of the bowl, and using a bench scraper, cut the dough into 8 equal sized pieces.
Wanna have some fun, let’s roll these guys out now. Using the palms of your hands, gently roll the dough into a rope from the middle to the edges.
Once it’s at your desired thickness, make a circle out of the dough and press the two ends together.
Using your right hand, press and roll the edges that we want to connect, while with your left hand hold the part of the circle that we don’t want to roll up in the air.
Place the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and repeat the process until all of our koulouria are shaped.
Now onto the next best part, adding our sesame. In a bowl, add 500 milliliters or 2 cups of cold water, and 50 grams of 4 tablespoons of granulated sugar, and whisk until dissolved.
In a separate bowl add a ton of sesame seeds. Seriously, there’s gonna be some much sesame when this is all over.
Next we’re going to quickly dip the dough in the water and place it in the bowl of sesame. Make sure to coat the entire thing in the sesame, I mean really get in there.
Once it’s coated. Place the koulouri back on the parchment lined baking sheet and continue the process until they’re all coated.
Once that’s done, let it rest for 20-30 minutes to rise and then we can start baking.
To bake, make sure that you’ve preheated your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit or 200 degrees Celsius, and then place the koulouri in there for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Once, they’re ready, take them out and immediately hit them with some melted butter. Salted, or unsalted - dealer’s choice, but I like to use salted butter since it adds some extra flavor.
And there you have it, a tasty and delicious Koulouri. The Greek cousin of the thicker New Yorker - which in my opinion is here to stay.
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