The chief ingredients are flour, semolina, sugar, molasses soaked in saffron, poppy or nigella seeds, salt, and ghee (clarified butter).

[6] According to the legend, Baqer, a general based in Chittagong under Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah of Bengal, falls in love with a dancer called Khani Begum from Arambagh, who was also eyed by Zaynul Khan, the city's kotwal and the son of a wazir.

[11] The Bengal Subah, specifically Mughal Dhaka, was a hub for merchants from all parts of the subcontinent and even as far as the Middle East and Armenia.

The bread is made by stretching a sheet of dough repeatedly and interleaving with ghee, molasses, saffron water, poppy or nigella seeds before baking on a tandoor or tawa girdle.

[6] Hakim Habibur Rahman, author of Dhaka Panchas Baras Pahle, lists three variations of bakarkhani; Gao-joban, shuki (shukha) and nimshuki.

[18] There is also a Kashmiri variant of bakarkhani[19] which is a thinner variety, similar to round naan in appearance, but crisp and layered, and sprinkled with sesame seeds.