APRIL 2 • 2020 | 35

simple recipe. It has two
ingredients: flour and
water.
Flour: Regular flour
might not do for kosher-
for-Passover matzah
because it might have too
much water added at the
mill, rendering it chametz
(leavened) and unfit for
Passover. Matzah bakers
use special flour, ground
on purpose for matzah, so
check your labels.
Water: According to
Rabbi Yehudah in the
Talmud, we draw the
water for matzah the day
before baking and keep it
in a cool place in a closed
vessel overnight (Pesahim
42a).
How much water?
That depends on many
variables. The temperature
and even the humidity in
the bakery will make a
difference for matzah as
for any sort of bread.
If you use whole wheat
flour, as little water as
possible and an oven at its
highest setting, you will get
a product that looks like
Matzah Shemurah (matzah
“watched” to make sure
it’
s made in less than 18
minutes). The scholarly
team of Rabbi Dr. Ari
Zivotovsky and Dr. Ari
Greenspan estimate that

a kilogram of flour will
absorb about 400 to 480
milliliters of water (less
than a cup of water per
pound of flour).
Preheat the oven as hot
as it goes — try the broil
setting. It still will not
get as hot as the ovens
in matzah bakeries. In a
cool room, mix the flour
and water quickly and
thoroughly, so that no
grain of flour stays dry.
Then instantly roll it out
into a thin rough disk.
Prick the surface of the
disk with a fork so water
vapor can escape as it
bakes. Place in the oven
and watch it carefully. In a
minute or less, it will look
done.
Pull it out of the oven,
and you will have a pretty
good facsimile of a Matzah
Shemurah.
Zivotovsky and
Greenspan describe
watching an Israeli woman
from Yemen making a
soft matzah the way she
did in the old country.
She kneaded the flour
and water together into a
disc and plunged it into
the oven. She took it out
when she was sure it was
baked through. “From start
to finish, it was under 5
minutes,” they said.
.

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34_DJN040220_PO Soft Matzah April2.indd 35
34_DJN040220_PO Soft Matzah April2.indd 35
3/30/20 12:14 PM
3/30/20 12:14 PM