{{short description|Unleavened bread baked on a griddle}} {{Infobox food | name = Saj bread | image = Yufka ekmek.jpg | image_size = 300 px | caption = Unleavened yufka bread made on griddle | alternate_name = | place_of_origin = Middle East | region = | creator = | course = | type = Flatbread | served = | main_ingredient = Flour, water, salt | variations = | calories = | other = }} {{For|other uses of the word "Saj"|Saj (disambiguation)}} '''Saj bread''' ({{langx|ar|خبز صاج|khubz ṣāj|rtl=yes}}, {{langx|tr|sac ekmeği}}, {{langx|ckb|نانی کوردی|nanî kurdî|rtl=yes}}), also known as '''markook bread''' ({{langx|ar|خبز مرقوق|khubz marqūq|label=none|rtl=yes}}), '''''khubz ruqaq''''' ({{langx|ar|رقاق|label=none|rtl=yes}}), '''''shrak''''' ({{langx|ar|شراك|label=none|rtl=yes}}), '''''khubz rqeeq''''' ({{langx|ar|رقيق|label=none|rtl=yes}}),<ref>{{cite news |title=طريقة عمل خبز رقاق - موضوع |url=https://mawdoo3.com/%D8%B7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%82%D8%A9_%D8%B9%D9%85%D9%84_%D8%AE%D8%A8%D8%B2_%D8%B1%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%82 |access-date=2018-11-27 |work=موضوع |language=ar}}</ref> or '''''mashrooh''''' ({{langx|ar|مشروح|label=none|rtl=yes}}), is a type of unleavened flatbread in Middle Eastern cuisine that is baked on a metal griddle called a ''saj''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Addison |first=Bill |last2=Helou |first2=Anissa |date=2021-02-26 |title=Saj Bread |url=https://www.latimes.com/recipe/saj-bread |access-date=2025-10-28 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref>
{{Infobox prepared food | name = Markook bread | image = Saj.jpg | image_size = 250px | caption = | alternate_name = Shrak, ruqaq, rqeeq, or mashrooh | type = Flatbread | course = | country = Middle East | region = Levant and Arabian Peninsula | creator = | served = | main_ingredient = | variations = | calories = | other = }}
''Markook shrak'' is a type of thin (almost translucent) bread. The dough is unleavened and usually made with only flour, water, and salt. After being rested, the dough is divided into round portions, flattened, and spread across a round cushion until it is thin, then flipped onto the saj.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elamine |first=Anthony Morano and Leila |title=Rima's Saj Bread Film {{!}}The Recipe Hunters in Lebanon |url=https://www.therecipehunters.com/rimassajbread |access-date=2018-11-27 |website=The Recipe Hunters |language=en}}</ref> It is often folded and put in bags before being sold.<ref name="aljazeera">{{cite news |title=الشراك.. خبز يحظى بشعبية كبيرة في رمضان الأردنيين |trans-title=Shrak: A bread that is very popular during Ramadan among Jordanians. |url=https://www.aljazeera.net/lifestyle/2019/5/20/الشراك-خبز-يحظى-بشعبية-كبيرة-في-رمضان |access-date=29 September 2025 |work=Al-Jazeera |language=ar}}</ref>
It is commonly compared to pita, also found in Middle Eastern cuisine, although saj bread is much larger and thinner. In some Arab countries, such as Yemen, different names are given for the same flatbread, such as ''khamir'', ''maluj'' and ''ṣaluf'', depending on the regional dialects. In Israel, markook is usually referred to as ''Druze pita'', but may also be referred to as laffa, though markook and laffa are distinct types of flatbread.
== Etymology == {{Wiktionary|رق}}
Markook ({{Lang|ar|مرقوق}}) comes from the Arabic word {{Transliteration|ar|raqiq}} ({{Lang|ar|رقيق}}) meaning delicate, and {{Transliteration|ar|raqiq}} also comes from the verb {{Transliteration|ar|Raq}} ({{Lang|ar|رق}}).<ref>{{cite web |title=مرقوق |url=https://www.almougem.com/search.php?query=مرقوق}}</ref>
== History ==
Markook was also mentioned in the tenth-century cookbook of Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq under the name '''ruqaq'''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Ibn Sayyar |first1=Al-Warraq |author1-link=Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq |title=Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens: Ibn Sayyar Al-Warraq's Tenth-Century Baghdadi Cookbook |last2=Nasrallah |first2=Nawal |date=26 November 2007 |publisher=Brill Academic Publishers |pages=568}}</ref> He describes it as large and paper-thin, unleavened bread.<ref name=":0" />
German orientalist Gustaf Dalman 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.<ref>{{cite book |author-last=Dalman |author-first=Gustaf |author-link=Gustaf Dalman |title=Arbeit und Sitte in Palästina |year=1964 |volume=4 (Bread, oil and wine) |location=Hildesheim |language=de |oclc=312676221}} (reprinted from 1935 edition), Photographic illustration no. 30 [Dreizehn Brotarten (Thirteen bread types)]</ref>
== Bread == ''Yufka'' bread ({{langx|tr|yufka ekmeği}}) is the Turkish name of a very thin, large ({{cvt|60|cm|disp=sqbr}}) unleavened flatbread in Turkish cuisine, also known under different names in Arab cuisine, baked on a convex metal griddle, called ''saj'' in Arabic and ''sac'' in Turkish.<ref>{{cite news |title=Kitchen Secrets / Some Saj' Advice |url=https://www.haaretz.com/1.4758254 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331030440/https://www.haaretz.com/1.4758254 |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 31, 2022 |publisher=Haaretz}}</ref><ref>Türk Dil Kurumu, ''Büyük Türkçe Sözlük'' [http://www.tdk.gov.tr/index.php search form] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150515110322/http://www.tdk.gov.tr/index.php |date=2015-05-15 }}</ref><ref name=PtS>[https://www.cyprusisland.net/cyprus-cuisine/pies/pitta-tis-satzis Pitta tis Satzis]</ref>
Arab ''saj'' bread is somewhat similar to ''markook shrek'', but is thinner and larger.<ref name=Dalman1935>{{cite book |author-last=Dalman|author-first=Gustaf |author-link=Gustaf Dalman |title=Arbeit und Sitte in Palästina|trans-title=Work and Customs in Palestine|volume=4 (Bread, oil and wine)|location=Hildesheim |year=1964 |orig-year=1935 |edition=reprint |language=de |oclc=312676221}}, Photographic illustration no. 30 "Dreizehn Brotarten", 'Thirteen bread types'.</ref>
In Palestine, the saj bread is simply called '''shrāke''' ({{lang|ar|شراك}}), differing from the ''markook'', which is baked in a clay oven (tannur).<ref name=Dalman1935/> ''Shrak'' is also popular in Jordan and is traditionally made ahead of Eid so that dishes like fatteh and mansaf can be served during Eid.<ref>{{cite news |title=السماقية والمقلوبة والمفتول والمعلاق أكلات غزية تغيب في العيد |url=https://www.aljazeera.net/lifestyle/2024/6/16/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%82%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%82%D9%84%D9%88%D8%A8%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%81%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%84 |access-date=3 November 2025 |work=Al-Jazeera |language=ar |trans-title=Sumac, Maqluba, Maftoul, and Ma'laq are Gazan dishes that disappear during Eid.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=المنسف.. سيد الموائد في عيد الأضحى |url=https://www.addustour.com/articles/1093233-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B3%D9%81-%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%A6%D8%AF-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B9%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B6%D8%AD%D9%89 |access-date=3 November 2025 |work=Ad-Dustour (Jordan) |language=ar |trans-title=Mansaf... the king of dishes on Eid al-Adha}}</ref>
''Farasheeh'' ({{lang|ar|فراشيح}}) is a type of saj bread popular in the Gaza Strip, its ingredients are simply water, flour, and salt, and sometimes semolina flour, after the dough is prepared, its cut to pieces and left to rest.<ref>{{cite news |title=Farasheeh, Long Lines and Lots of Walking - Palestine Chronicle Camera in Gaza |url=https://www.palestinechronicle.com/farasheeh-long-lines-and-lots-of-walking-palestine-chronicle-camera-in-gaza/ |access-date=3 November 2025 |work=Palestine Chronicle |date=30 November 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=ملك "الفراشيح" في قطاع غزة |url=https://www.alaraby.co.uk/%D9%85%D9%84%D9%83-%22%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%AD%22-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%82%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%B9-%D8%BA%D8%B2%D8%A9 |access-date=3 November 2025 |work=The New Arab |date=9 Nov 2015 |trans-title=King of "Farashih" in the Gaza Strip}}</ref> It is also made by bedouins in the Sinai Peninsula.<ref>{{cite web |title=Farasheeh bread - Arca del Gusto |url=https://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/en/ark-of-taste-slow-food/farasheeh-bread/ |website=Slow Food Foundation |access-date=3 November 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=الفراشيح.. حكاية أشهر أنواع الخبز في سيناء |url=https://www.masrawy.com/news/news_regions/details/2024/3/7/2548800/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B4%D9%8A%D8%AD-%D8%AD%D9%83%D8%A7%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A3%D8%B4%D9%87%D8%B1-%D8%A3%D9%86%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D8%A8%D8%B2-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%B5%D9%88%D8%B1- |access-date=3 November 2025 |work=Masrawy |date=3 Jul 2023 |language=ar |trans-title=Farashih: The Story of Sinai's Most Famous Bread}}</ref>
In Cyprus, it is known as ''pitta satzis'' (πίττα της σατζίης, ''pitta tis satziis'', i.e. “satzi (flat)bread” or “(flat)brad of (from) satzi”), also called ''kattimeri''. It is eaten as a snack. The dough is lightly sweetened with honey and cinnamon.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.productsfromcyprus.com/en-us/products/pitta-saztis | title=Pitta Satzis}}</ref><ref name=PtS/>
== Stuffed bread == ''Gözleme'' is a savory, soft Turkish stuffed flatbread, cooked on the convex saç.<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Kitabevi| isbn = 978-975-7321-74-3| last = Koz| first = M. Sabri| title = Yemek kitabı: tarih, halkbilimi, edebiyat| date = 2002}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Konya Kültür ve Turizm Vakfı| last = Halıcı| first = Feyzi| title = Dördüncü Milletlerarası Yemek Kongresi: Türkiye, 3-6 Eylül 1992| date = 1993}}</ref>
==Gallery==
<gallery mode="packed"> File:Nan-e Kordi (Nani Kurdi) - Location in Kolur, Javanrud County, Kermanshah Province in Iran.JPG|Kurdish bread (Iran) File:Preparation of qurasah.jpg|Qurasah (Sudan) File:Woman Baking Bread on Saj Oven in Artas, West Bank, Palestine.JPG|Shrāke (Palestine) File:Yufka yapan kadın.JPG|Yufka bread (Turkey) File:Markouk_from_Jerusalem_Israel.png|Markouk prepared by Syrian Jews in Jerusalem File:Woman_Baking_Bread_on_Saj_Oven_in_Artas,_West_Bank,_Palestine.JPG|Baking ''markook'' bread File:Markouk_-_Bread_on_Saje.jpg|Markouk being prepared and cooked on a saj </gallery>
==See also== {{div col|colwidth=10em}} * Chapati * Gözleme * Lavash * Naan * Pane carasau * Piadina * Rumali roti *List of flatbreads{{div col end}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{YouTube|U4xfkXYaA3g|Tutorial: How to make Saj Bread}} (Arabic) {{Flatbreads}}{{Turkish cuisine}} Category:Iranian breads Category:Flatbreads Category:Turkish breads Category:Arab breads