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 unleavened
flatbread common in the
Levant
The Levant () is an approximate 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 and other cultural contexts, it is ...
and the
Arabian peninsula. It is baked on a convex metal griddle (a
saj) or in a ''
tannour''.
''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 Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
, different names are given for the same flatbread, such as ''khamir'', ''
maluj'' and ''ṣaluf'', depending on the regional dialects. By Israelis, markook may also be referred to as
laffa
Laffa, also known as lafa or Iraqi pita, is a large, thin flatbread in Israeli cuisine with an Iraqi origin. Laffa is a simple bread that is traditionally dairy-free and vegan and cooked in a '' tannur'' (tandoor) or ''taboon'' oven. It is mos ...
, 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 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 during the early 20th-century as being also the name applied to flatbread made in a ''
tannour'', 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 in 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
ARTAS (ATM suRveillance Tracker And Server) is a system designed by Eurocontrol to operationally support Aerial surveillance and Air traffic control by establishing an accurate Air Situation Picture of all traffic over a pre-defined geographical ...
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 o ...
File:Markouk - Bread on Saje.jpg, Markouk being prepared and cooked on a saj
See also
* Chapati
Chapati (alternatively spelled chapatti, chappati, chapathi, or chappathi; pronounced as IAST: ), also known as ''roti'', ''rotli'', ''safati'', ''shabaati'', ''phulka'', (in East Africa) ''chapo'', (in Marathi) ''poli'', and (in the Maldives) ...
* Gözleme
Gözleme is a savory Turkish stuffed turnover. The dough is usually unleavened, and made only with flour, salt and water, but gözleme can be made from yeast dough as well. It is similar to bazlama, but is lightly brushed with butter or oil, w ...
* Lavash
Lavash ( hy, լավաշ) is a thin flatbread usually leavened, traditionally baked in a tandoor (''tonir'') or on a ''sajj'', and common to the cuisines of South Caucasus, Western Asia, and the areas surrounding the Caspian Sea. Lavash is on ...
* Khubz
Khubz, alternatively transliterated as ''khoubz'', ''khobez'', ''khubez'', or ''khubooz'', ), date=February 2022, is the usual word for "bread" in Standard Arabic and in many of the vernaculars.
Among the breads popular in Middle Eastern countrie ...
* Naan
Naan ( fa, نان, nān, ur, , ps, نان, ug, نان, hi, नान, bn, নান) is a leavened, oven-baked or tawa-fried flatbread which is found in the cuisines mainly of Western Asia, Central Asia, Indian subcontinent, Indonesia, ...
* Pita
* Piadina
''Piadina'' or ''piada'' is a thin Italian flatbread, typically prepared in the Romagna historical region (Forlì, Cesena, Ravenna and Rimini). It is usually made with white flour, lard or olive oil, salt and water. The dough was tradit ...
* Pane carasau
''Pane carasau'' (, ; "toasted bread" in Sardinian language, from the past participle of the Sardinian verb "to toast", referring to the crust) is a traditional flatbread from Sardinia. It is called in Italian, meaning " sheet music", in refe ...
* Rumali Roti
Rumali roti also called Manda. It is eaten with tandoori dishes. The word ''rumal'' means handkerchief in many north Indian languages, and the name ''rumali roti'' means handkerchief bread. In Punjab, it is also known as lamboo roti. Lamboo s ...
* Yufka, another bread called "saj bread"
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