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
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3/30/20 12:14 PM