Markook bread ( ar, خبز مرقوق, khubz marqūq), also known as ''khubz ruqaq'' ( ar, رقاق), ''shrak'' ( ar, شراك), ''khubz rqeeq'' ( ar, رقيق), ''mashrooh'' ( ar, مشروح), and

saj bread Saj bread ( ar, خبز صاج, khubz ṣāj, tr, sac ekmeği) or tava bread ( hi, तवा रोटी, tavā roṭī) is unleavened flatbread in Middle Eastern and South Asian cuisines baked on a metal griddle, called ''saj'' in Arabic and '' ...

( ar, خبز صاج), is a kind of

Middle Eastern The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europea ...

unleavened

flatbread A flatbread is a bread made with flour; water, milk, yogurt, or other liquid; and salt, and then thoroughly rolled into flattened dough. Many flatbreads are unleavened, although some are leavened, such as pizza and pita bread. Flatbreads r ...

common in the

Levant The Levant () is an approximation, approximate historical geography, historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology an ...

and the Arabian peninsula. It is baked on a convex metal griddle (a saj) or in a ''

tannour The primitive clay oven, or earthen oven / cob oven, has been used since ancient times by diverse cultures and societies, primarily for, but not exclusive to, baking before the invention of cast-iron stoves, and gas and electric ovens. The genera ...

''. ''Markook shrak'' is a type of thin bread. The dough is unleavened and usually made with only flour, water, and salt, and after being rested and divided into round portions, flattened and spread across a round cushion until it is thin then flipped onto the saj. It is often folded and put in bags before being sold. It is commonly compared to

pita bread Pita ( or ) or pitta (British English), is a family of yeast-leavened round flatbreads baked from wheat flour, common in the Mediterranean, Middle East, and neighboring areas. It includes the widely known version with an interior pocket, also ...

, also found in Middle Eastern cuisine, although it is much larger and thinner. In some Arab countries, such as

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast an ...

, different names are given for the same flatbread, such as ''khamir'', ''

maluj Maluj () or Malooga ( ar, ملوجة, link=no) is a leavened Yemeni flatbread eaten with bean A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in man ...

'' and ''ṣaluf'', depending on the regional dialects. By Israelis, markook may also be referred to as laffa, though markook and laffa are distinct types of flatbread.

Etymology

Markook () comes from the Arabic word () meaning delicate, and also comes from the verb ().

History

Markook was also mentioned in the tenth-century cookbook of

Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq ( ar, أبو محمد المظفر بن نصر ابن سيار الوراق) was an Arab author from Baghdad. He was the compiler of a tenth-century cookbook, the ( ar, links=no, كتاب الطبيخ, ''The Book of Dishes''). This is the earlies ...

under the name ruqaq. He describes it as large and paper-thin, unleavened bread. German orientalist

Gustaf Dalman Gustaf Hermann Dalman (9 June 1855 – 19 August 1941) was a German Lutheran theologian and orientalist. He did extensive field work in Palestine before the First World War, collecting inscriptions, poetry, and proverbs. He also collected physic ...

described the ''markook'' in

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East J ...

during the early 20th-century as being also the name applied to flatbread made in a ''

'', although, in this case, it was sometimes made with leavening agents. (reprinted from 1935 edition), Photographic illustration no. 30 reizehn Brotarten (Thirteen bread types)/ref>

Gallery

File:Markouk from Jerusalem Israel.png, Markouk prepared by

Syrian Jews Syrian Jews ( he, יהודי סוריה ''Yehudey Surya'', ar, الْيَهُود السُّورِيُّون ''al-Yahūd as-Sūriyyūn'', colloquially called SYs in the United States) are Jews who lived in the region of the modern state of Syr ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

File:Woman Baking Bread on Saj Oven in Artas, West Bank, Palestine.JPG, A

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

woman baking ''markook'' bread on Saj oven in the village of Artas near

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital ...

File:Markouk - Bread on Saje.jpg, Markouk being prepared and cooked on a saj

References

* * {{Flatbreads Arab cuisine Mediterranean cuisine Levantine cuisine Lebanese cuisine Palestinian cuisine Syrian cuisine Jewish baked goods Jewish breads Jordanian cuisine Iraqi cuisine Israeli cuisine Saudi Arabian cuisine Flatbreads

Etymology

History

Gallery

See also

References