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 commonly compared to pita bread, also found in Middle Eastern cuisine, although it 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.

[3] Markook was also mentioned in the tenth-century cookbook of Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq under the name ruqaq.

[4] 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.