Jewish matzah. Matzah - what is it? Matzo - recipe. Beneficial properties and possible harm of matzo

Bread is an international dish. Every race or nationality has a variation of it. And here it doesn’t matter what kind of source this product is baked from: maize, rye, wheat or fruits. The main thing is that all nationalities have a food made from flour, which is given special significance. But only Jews assign such an important role to their bread and are so careful about both its composition and its preparation.

Unbiased description

From a non-Jew's point of view, what is matzah? Thin, unleavened, dry flatbreads that have absolutely no taste, and even from the very beginning (for Russian and European tastes) are stale. They must be baked without yeast, without eggs, without oil (even vegetable oil and even for greasing a frying pan), and the resulting bread should be pale, thin and brittle. And if in recent years the same pita bread has replaced the usual loaves and loaves for many, then Jewish matzo is not very tasty, probably even for the Jews themselves, and can only tempt those who are diligently losing weight. However, it is full of deep sacred meaning, and therefore is not just a food product.

Proper matzah

If you remember what real matzo is, that it is not only very much but also part of the Jewish religion, then you must respect the traditions of its preparation. So, the flour from which these cakes are made must “be able” to ferment, but given its abilities, it cannot be allowed to do this. That is, rye, barley, spelt, oats, and wheat are suitable as a base. But matzo is almost always made from wheat flour.

Three types of Jewish bread

In fact, there are four varieties of it. However, chametz is a very special case. It does not carry a semantic load, since it is prepared using yeast and other ingredients besides flour and water. This is why it is forbidden not only to eat chametz, but also to have it in the house during the entire week of Passover. This is what distinguishes its composition from the dough from which matzo is prepared (everyone has already understood that this dough should be extremely unleavened). And if we take into account only bread prepared without yeast, then we can divide it into categories as follows.

The main criterion that this particular matzo is suitable for Passover, that this culinary product meets all the requirements, is flour. The grain from which it is ground must be closely monitored from the moment of collection. Bread that meets these strict requirements is called matzah shmurah, that is, preserved, preserved. This is an exclusively festive, solemn option.

If vigilance begins after grinding grain into flour, baking from it is considered as if it were everyday. There are no special requirements for it, and there are even certain indulgences that are unacceptable for sacred bread.

And the last type is matzo ashira, that is, rich matzo. What is this? Bread, the dough for which is kneaded without water, but with butter, wine, eggs, honey. It is no longer too kosher; it can be eaten either by weak old people, or by seriously ill people, or by children. Even pregnant women can use it only in case of difficult pregnancy.

Rules are also followed for industrial bread

Technological progress has given rise to serious debate: can matzah be baked in a factory? The Orthodox believed that machine grinding of grain into flour leads to its saturation with water, and therefore fermentation can begin, and the matzah will no longer be correct. Considering that even salt is not added to the dough (and it is not a provocateur of fermentation, so this is just a sign of vigilance), such a harsh approach is not surprising. In modern production, the matzo dough kneading process stops after 18 minutes to prevent possible fermentation.

Matzah at home

If you want to try Jewish bread, or you need it to prepare other dishes, you don’t have to look for a store that sells matzo. Its recipe is extremely simple, and even an inept housewife will quickly master it. 3 kilos of flour will use 5 liters of water, and you won’t need anything else from the products. The flour is sifted and poured into a mound, on top of which a depression is made. Water slowly pours into it, in a thin stream, and always cold. The dough kneads very quickly (remember: the whole process only takes 18 minutes!). This rule also has a technical basis: it dries quickly, if you hesitate, you will get dry crusts throughout the entire structure of the dough. The flatbreads are rolled out very thin on a floured table. The thinner the matzo, the more authentic it is. Pricks are made with a fork, and the sheets are spread on a baking sheet. If you still don’t know how to cook matzo, keep in mind: you need to preheat the oven in advance so as not to exceed the 18-minute limit. The flatbreads are baked literally within 2-3 minutes: the dough does not contain “heavy” ingredients and is rolled out very thin.

It's not just bread...

Matzo by itself is not very tasty. However, it is used not only in the form of cakes; There is flour from this bread product, on the basis of which simply culinary masterpieces are obtained. However, there are also matzo dishes that will satisfy even the most demanding taste. Let us mention, for example, “Matsyki”. They take 5 sheets of matzo, 8 eggs (half boiled, half left raw), processed cheese, boiled potatoes and fried onions. Boiled eggs, cheese, potatoes and fried onions are passed through a blender. It is worth holding the matzo over the steam for a minute so that the leaves soften. Then comes the layering: a plate of matzo - a layer of filling - a plate of matzo, etc. It is better to coat Jewish bread with mayonnaise, but it is not necessary. The resulting “cake” is cut into pieces, each of them is dipped in a beaten raw egg and fried in a frying pan. You can sprinkle the cut pie with grated cheese and bake in the oven. In general, the filling for such a snack can be anything - unleavened matzo dough is compatible with all products.

For example, you can please your children with a delicious and quick cake. For him, out of 5 pieces of matzo, only one is left, and the rest are broken. The jam is diluted with boiling water and poured into the wreckage. While the syrup is absorbed, sugar and sour cream are combined. The cake pan is covered with film (food film, of course), filled with a mixture of soaked matzo and sour cream whipped with sugar. The last matzo cake is placed on top. All this stuff is put into the refrigerator for two hours, then it is turned over so that the matzo becomes bottom, the film is removed, and the entire product is sprinkled with grated chocolate (chopped nuts, whipped cream, candied fruits). Your children will be happy!

During the Soviet years, our fathers and grandfathers stood in lines for it, comparable only to the lines for scarce caviar or for exhibitions of Western art, and even earlier, at the risk of their lives, they produced it in the ghetto in the territory occupied by the Nazis and in the Gulag camps. The issue of baking it or delivering it from abroad was sometimes decided at the level of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee and the leadership of the KGB.

All this related to matzo, an indispensable part of the Passover seder and the Passover celebration in general. The word “matza” itself (in Hebrew “matzot”) literally means “squeezed out” or “deprived of moisture.” This word refers to flatbreads made from unleavened dough, which for Jewish believers are the only type of bread allowed for consumption during the Passover holiday.

Eating matzah reminds the Jews that during the Exodus, their ancestors “baked the dough that they carried out of Mizraim into unleavened cakes, for it had not become leavened; for they were expelled from Mizraim and could not linger” (Shmois, 12:39). Therefore, even now matzo consists of only two components - flour and water. Everything else (even salt) is prohibited to be added. In connection with this unpretentiousness, the Torah also calls matzah “lechem oni” (“bread of sorrow” or “bread of poverty”). Eating matzo reminds Jews of how their ancestors, relying on the help of the Almighty, left Egypt without even storing food supplies. Therefore, in the book “Zohar,” one of the fundamental works on which Kabbalah is based, matzah is called “food of faith.” It also explains that such an identification is largely based on the fact that faith is a kind of “reflection” of matzo - it also includes only two elements: humility and submission, and nothing more. It is believed that a Jew who eats matzah each time emphasizes the immutability of his ancestors’ decision to exodus from Egypt and makes his personal “Exodus” from the “Egypt” of the material world.

There is another interpretation of the reason for eating matzo on Passover. It takes us back to the time of the creation of the world. According to this interpretation, the forbidden fruit that Adam ate from the Tree of Knowledge was not an apple, but a grain of wheat. Having tasted it, the first man lost his idea of ​​the Creator. Thus, by eating matzah on Passover, we correct Adam's mistake. At the same time, since each person is like Adam, and the Passover holiday is the beginning of a new life cycle, eating matzo is an opportunity to renew and improve one’s Jewishness as a way of life.

Matzo is an essential part of the first two seders. At the same time, Jews are forbidden to eat matzo on the eve of Passover (sometimes it is even believed that matzo cannot be consumed during the month before the onset of Passover). According to tradition, this is done in order to awaken in them a greater desire to taste matzah during the holiday.

Although formally matzah was allowed to be baked from any grain whose flour could be fermented (spelt, oats, rye, barley, wheat), in practice matzah is usually made from wheat flour. At the same time, special precautions are used to prevent the dough from fermenting when baking matzah. For example, since leaven is usually favored by elevated water temperatures, water for matzo is usually prepared ahead of time. Another way to combat sourdough is to pierce the dough to remove any air bubbles in it. The entire process of making matzah until baking should not exceed 18 minutes (this time is the minimum period for the natural processes of fermentation of the dough to begin).

For many centuries, each Jewish family prepared matzo for itself - in its own oven. In addition, many communities baked matzah for those of their members who were unable to do so themselves. At that time, making matzo consisted of 18 steps, a complete list of which is given on the website matza.ru. First, flour was poured in and water was poured in, then they were mixed. Then the next worker, to whom the initial batch was transferred, thoroughly kneaded the dough on a special metal table called a “finer”. The dough was shaped into a “sausage”, which was handed over to the rolling team. Each of them received their own piece of this “sausage” and turned it into a flat cake. Then holes were made in the cakes and they were handed over to the baker. He hung the cakes on poles and placed the poles in the oven. When ready, the cakes were removed from the oven, placed on a clean table and sorted, leaving only clean sheets. In the middle of the 19th century, due to the development of technology and the movement of Jews to cities where it was no longer possible to prepare matzo individually, a new method of making matzo appeared - by machine. It was first used in Austria in 1857. Its appearance caused a long aloha dispute between rabbis - whether the innovation would contribute to the penetration of moisture into the flour and, thereby, leavening of the dough. But in the end, the machine method won, and this led to a change in the shape of the matzo - from a round or oval flatbread, it turned into the square so familiar to us, since machines, of course, found it convenient to cut square pieces of dough. Nowadays, almost all matzo is baked by machine. In the old fashioned way, in the oven, only the so-called. matzo shmurah (protected matzo), the flour for which is made from grain that is under special supervision from the moment of harvest.

Even if you don't eat matzah because of religious beliefs, crispy flatbreads made from elemental ingredients can be part of your diet. Homemade matzo is prepared quite quickly and simply due to the fact that the dough for it does not require a long time for infusion or fermentation. We’ll talk about all the intricacies of preparing matzo at home in the recipes below.

Jewish matzo recipe

Ingredients:

• wheat flour - 1 1/4 tbsp.;
• large egg;
• - 2 tbsp. spoons;
• water - 1 tbsp. spoon.

Preparation

While the oven temperature reaches 180 degrees, we have enough time to prepare and roll out the bread dough. Mix the flour with a good pinch of salt. Separately, beat the egg with water and oil, and add the liquid to the flour. Knead the dough, divide it in half and roll it into large flat cakes about a millimeter thick. Carefully transfer the matzo to a parchment-lined baking sheet and prick with a fork. Cooking the matzo in the oven will take 10-12 minutes, after which we remove the flatbreads, cool them for a couple of hours and only then try them.

Matzo made from wheat and corn flour

Ingredients:

• wheat flour - 250 g;
• - 200 g;
• water - 190 ml;
• oil - 3 tbsp. spoons.

Preparation

Preheat the oven to the highest possible temperature, on most devices this is 250 degrees. Mix both types of flour together and add water and oil to the dry ingredients. After kneading the elastic dough, divide it into 8 parts, roll each thinly and place on a baking sheet preheated in the oven. Prick the flatbreads with a fork and sprinkle with salt, and then brown in a hot oven.

If desired, the flatbread can be sprinkled with sesame seeds, poppy seeds or dried herbs before baking, or you can replace part of the flour with bran for greater benefit. Bran matzo can also be baked in an electric waffle iron; the latter is preheated to 200 degrees and the thinly rolled dough is baked in it for 20-30 seconds.

There are a huge number of different dishes, products and culinary concepts. One of these is matzah. Maybe you’ve even heard of something, or perhaps you’re now reading for the first time, what it is. Matzah is unleavened bread with a long and complex history.

It is closely connected with one of the most important Jewish holidays, called Passover. Sometimes incorrectly called "Jewish Passover", this holiday is celebrated in the spring to commemorate the escape of Jews from slavery in Egypt.

It is also often called the "Feast of Unleavened Bread" - according to legend, the Israelites had to leave Egypt so quickly that they did not have enough time to leaven the dough prepared for baking bread. In this way they baked bread from unleavened dough.

The Passover holiday has many difficult rules, the main one of which is the ban on eating fermented cereal products during the entire holiday. Matzo became a traditional and main dish. For its preparation, white wheat flour is most often used. Neither corn nor ground flour should come into contact with moisture in any way, so that fermentation does not begin.

The time from kneading to baking should be no more than 18 minutes. If the water used for baking is a little warm, you need to count on a shorter time to avoid fermenting too early.

Matzo traditionally had a round shape, but with the advent of machine production it became square. There are many ways to use it in Jewish cuisine. The easiest way is to eat baked goods simply as an alternative to regular bread.

Matzo is often ground into so-called matzo flour, which is well suited for seasoning quenelles in soup, for example. This type of baking is also often used to thicken sauces and stew or fry certain meat dishes.

How is matzo different from regular bread?

This is real bread, which is also prepared with flour and water. The only thing that distinguishes matzah from regular bread is that in the case of Jewish bread we do not wait for the dough to ferment and rise, thereby resulting in a flat, crispy bread.

Composition, calorie content and beneficial properties

Classic matzo is not rich in ingredients. To prepare it you will need wheat flour, water and no salt. The store-bought product consists of flour and 72% water.

Nutritional value per 100 g of product:

• fats 1.3 g;
• saturated fatty acids 0.2 g;
• carbohydrates 71.3 g;
• sugar 2.2 g;
• protein 12 g;
• salt<0,01 г
• energy value 1497 kJ/353 kcal.

Although matzo is primarily a bread with deep religious meaning, it also has many benefits for ordinary consumers. This bread is considered a healthy product and is suitable for people with stomach diseases and acidity problems.

Although the matzo itself does not taste anything unusual, it is recommended as a healthy food and for a gentle diet for diseases of the liver or gall bladder.

Recipe for making matzo at home

Nowadays, Jewish bread can be easily purchased in grocery stores, but you can also bake it yourself at home.

You need to knead the dough and divide it into 4 parts.

Roll out the dough into thin layers.

Use a fork to make holes all over the surface and cook in a frying pan without oil until it turns yellow.

Although the bread itself tastes bland, it can be prepared in different variations for variety.

Gourmet matzah

Ingredients:

• 1 onion;
• 100 g ready-made matzah;
• 200 ml. fat milk;
• 3 tbsp. l. butter;
• black pepper to taste;
• salt to taste;
• chicken eggs - 5 pcs.

Cooking time: 30 minutes.

Energy value: 708 kcal.

Break the matzo into small pieces and soak in milk. Then drain the milk. Beat the eggs into another container and stir. Fry the diced onion in butter until golden brown.

Remove from heat and mix onion with eggs, add soaked matzo and stir. Fry this mixture in the form of an omelette on the remaining oil on both sides.

Bon appetit!

Bread is an international dish. Every race or nationality has a variation of it. And here it doesn’t matter what kind of source this product is baked from: maize, rye, wheat or breadfruit. The main thing is that all nationalities have food made from flour, which is given special significance. But only Jews assign such an important role to their bread and are so careful about both its composition and its preparation.

Unbiased description

From a non-Jew's point of view, what is matzah? Thin, unleavened, dry flatbreads that have absolutely no taste, and even from the very beginning (for Russian and European tastes) are stale. They must be baked without yeast, without eggs, without oil (even vegetable oil and even for greasing a frying pan), and the resulting bread should be pale, thin and brittle. And if in recent years the same pita bread has replaced the usual loaves and loaves for many, then Jewish matzo is not very tasty, probably even for the Jews themselves, and can only tempt those who are diligently losing weight. However, it is full of deep sacred meaning, and therefore is not just a food product.

Proper matzah

If you remember what real matzo is, that it is not only a very lean bread, but also part of the Jewish religion, then you must respect the traditions of its preparation. So, the flour from which these cakes are made must “be able” to ferment, but given its abilities, it cannot be allowed to do this. That is, rye, barley, spelt, oats, and wheat are suitable as a base. But matzo is almost always made from wheat flour.

Three types of Jewish bread

In fact, there are four varieties of it. However, chametz is a very special case. It does not carry a semantic load, since it is prepared using yeast and other ingredients besides flour and water. This is why it is forbidden not only to eat chametz, but also to have it in the house during the entire week of Passover. This is what distinguishes its composition from the dough from which matzo is prepared (everyone has already understood that this dough should be extremely unleavened). And if we take into account only bread prepared without yeast, then we can divide it into categories as follows.

The main criterion that this particular matzo is suitable for Passover, that this culinary product meets all the requirements, is flour. The grain from which it is ground must be closely monitored from the moment of collection. Bread that meets these strict requirements is called matzah shmurah, that is, preserved, preserved. This is an exclusively festive, solemn option.

If vigilance begins after grinding grain into flour, baking from it is considered as if it were everyday. There are no special requirements for it, and there are even certain indulgences that are unacceptable for sacred bread.

And the last type is matzo ashira, that is, rich matzo. What is this? Bread, the dough for which is kneaded without water, but with butter, wine, eggs, honey. It is no longer too kosher; it can be eaten either by weak old people, or by seriously ill people, or by children. Even pregnant women can use it only in case of difficult pregnancy.

Rules are also followed for industrial bread

Technological progress has given rise to serious debate: can matzah be baked in a factory? The Orthodox believed that machine grinding of grain into flour leads to its saturation with water, and therefore fermentation can begin, and the matzah will no longer be correct. Considering that even salt is not added to the dough (and it is not a provocateur of fermentation, so this is just a sign of vigilance), such a harsh approach is not surprising. In modern production, the matzo dough kneading process stops after 18 minutes to prevent possible fermentation.

Matzah at home

If you want to try Jewish bread, or you need it to prepare other dishes, you don’t have to look for a store that sells matzo. Its recipe is extremely simple, and even an inept housewife will quickly master it. 3 kilos of flour will use 5 liters of water, and you won’t need anything else from the products. The flour is sifted and poured into a mound, on top of which a depression is made. Water slowly pours into it, in a thin stream, and always cold. The dough kneads very quickly (remember: the whole process only takes 18 minutes!). This rule also has a technical basis: unleavened dough dries quickly, if you hesitate, you will get dry crusts throughout the entire structure of the dough. The flatbreads are rolled out very thin on a floured table. The thinner the matzo, the more authentic it is. Pricks are made with a fork, and the sheets are spread on a baking sheet. If you still don’t know how to cook matzo, keep in mind: you need to preheat the oven in advance so as not to exceed the 18-minute limit. The flatbreads are baked literally within 2-3 minutes: the dough does not contain “heavy” ingredients and is rolled out very thin.

It's not just bread...

Matzo by itself is not very tasty. However, it is used not only in the form of cakes; There is flour from this bread product, on the basis of which simply culinary masterpieces are obtained. However, there are also matzo dishes that will satisfy even the most demanding taste. Let us mention, for example, “Matsyki”. They take 5 sheets of matzo, 8 eggs (half boiled, half left raw), processed cheese, boiled potatoes and fried onions. Boiled eggs, cheese, potatoes and fried onions are passed through a blender. It is worth holding the matzo over the steam for a minute so that the leaves soften. Then comes the layering: a plate of matzo - a layer of filling - a plate of matzo, etc. It is better to coat Jewish bread with mayonnaise, but it is not necessary. The resulting “cake” is cut into pieces, each of them is dipped in a beaten raw egg and fried in a frying pan. You can sprinkle the cut pie with grated cheese and bake in the oven. In general, the filling for such a snack can be anything - unleavened matzo dough is compatible with all products.

For example, you can please your children with a delicious and quick cake. For him, out of 5 pieces of matzo, only one is left, and the rest are broken. The jam is diluted with boiling water and poured into the wreckage. While the syrup is absorbed, sugar and sour cream are combined. The cake pan is covered with film (food film, of course), filled with a mixture of soaked matzo and sour cream whipped with sugar. The last matzo cake is placed on top. All this stuff is put into the refrigerator for two hours, then it is turned over so that the matzo becomes bottom, the film is removed, and the entire product is sprinkled with grated chocolate (chopped nuts, whipped cream, candied fruits). Your children will be happy!