INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

I have tons of recipes "using" matzoh, during Passover many Jewish cooks
substitute matzohs or matzoh meal for flour in recipes..but I was sadly
lacking in the matzoh "cracker" department. I looked on the net..found an
easy one using matzoh meal (that seemed like putting the horse before the
cart, although if this is too scary an undertaking, I'll be glad to send it
to you)) ..then I remembered a favorite book, =46latbreads & Flavors by
Alford and Duguid, and <bold>found it</bold>.
You will need a medium sized bowl, a rolling pin, a fork, or a metal comb
or other utensil for making holes in the breads, and quarry tiles to fit on
the rack of the oven or one or two baking sheets.
Place tiles or baking sheets on the bottom rack of the oven and preheat
oven to 425&deg;F.
When the oven is hot place 2 cups flour in a medium sized bowl and stir in
water until a kneadable dough forms; you may have to ass a little more
flour or water, depending on your flours. Turn the dough out onto a lightly
floured surface and knead very quickly and vigorously until smooth, about 3
to 4 minutes. (Although you are trying to get the dough into the oven
quickly, the time spent kneading is improtant, as it makes the dough easier
to roll out very thin.) Cut the dough into 12 equal peices and flatten with
lightly floured hands.
Work with one piece of dough at a time, keeping the others covered with
plastic wrap. On a lightly floured surface roll out one piece of dough as
thin as possible. Prick it all over with a fork or or a sharp toothed comb,
and then try to stretch it slightly to widen the holes you have made.
Transfer to the quarry tiles or baking sheet, placing it to one side to
leave room for more breads and bake for 2 and 1/2 to 3 minutes, until
golden on the bottom and starting to crisp around the pricked holes.
Meanwhile, continue rolling out the dough, placing each bread in the oven
as it is ready. If you are working with a partner, one should roll out the
dough while the other pricks, stretches and bakes the breads. This will be
much easier to get the breads baked in time. If your oven is small, you may
not be able to fit in enough breads at once to get them done in time. If
so, you can bake some of the breads on the your stove top in a dry skillet,
to get them all started baking within the 18 minute time limit.
=46or a traditional crisp, dried matzoh, leave the breads out on a rack to
cool completely and to dry.
With the small amount of dough this recipe makes, you can get all the
breads into the oven if not completely baked) in less than eighteeen
minutes from when we first add water to the flour. the recipe assumes that
you wish to make matzoh within the time limit; without a large commercial
oven, and several helping hands for the rolling out, you must begin with a
small amount of dough to get all the breads done in time. To make more,
make the recipe again a second time. If you aren't worried about compleying
with the time limit, you can bake in larger batches.
Alternatives: If you prefer salted breads, stir in 1 teaspoon of salt into
the flour, then add the water. You can add a little ovive oil to the dough
if you wish. Matzoh made with salt and oil is still matzoh, but not
appropriate for a Passover seder (there is no need to rush these breads).
Makes 12 thin breads approximately 8" in diameter.
NOTES : "Matzo is the unleavened bread made from flour and water with no
salt, no oil, and - most important, no yeast. It is eaten during Passover
to commemorate the haste with which the Jewish people fled Egypt. During
Passover no yeast or yeasted products may be eaten. In religiosly observant
households, the house is thoroughly cleaned and swept, and all old flour,
biscuits and other unleavened products are discarded.
Matzoh must be made quickly and with clean flour in order to prevent
naturally occuring yeasts from making the breads rise. The Shulchan Aruch,
a sixteenth-century codification of Jewish law, requires that no more than
eighteen minutes should elapse. In order to get everything done within the
time limit, many hands are needed to roll out the breads and get them
cooked, and only small batches can be made at a time.
Historically, Jewish communities, whether in small villages in Italy or in
the cities of Iraq or Morocco, turned the production of Matzo shmura, or
"kosher for Passover" into a group effort. A special patch
continued in part 2

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