Shrak
Form: Leaf of bread that can be as large as 50 centimeters in diameter
Country of origin: Palestine
What distinguishes it from other methods of bread making: Large sheet cooked on a hot metal plate
Category of bread: (1 and 7) Belongs to family of “bread handkerchiefs”, the king of which is Lebanese markouk or markook
Particularity: Because it is cooked on a saj, a domed or convex metal griddle, it is familiarly called khobz saj
Ingredients: Whole-wheat flour; baker’s yeast; salt; sugar; warm water; oil for cooking
Palestine
You can’t talk about Palestinian shrak without thinking about Lebanese markouk, even if markouk still holds first place as soon as you ask yourself just how thinly is possible to roll out dough with a rolling pin, or using the knack that women pass down from mother to daughter, generation after generation, for rolling out this wheat dough. But even though shrak is not quite as big, with its 50-centimeter diameter, it is still one of the largest leaf breads in the world, that is for sure.
This twist of hand always makes for a great show. The women sit cross-legged on a large, round cushion referred to as a kara. They have in front of them a large sheet of shrak. It can be used like the Egyptians use it, with a large board fitted with a handle, using age-old twists of hand as they throw it into the air and turn it at the same time. Through this action, the dough is gradually stretched out to the size required. Using this utensil or a cushion, women place a sheet of bread on a metal griddle placed over the fire or in the oven.
There are an infinite number of ways to use and eat this sheet of bread, as you can well imagine. Like a baguette, shrak can be eaten as an accompaniment to meat, fish or vegetables, and can liven the taste of other dishes. For example, the recipe for musakhkhan consists of rolling up bits of spicy chicken in a shrak.