Making matza at home

ELIZABETH NIDER

Matza is usually the first image that comes to mind when someone says Passover. Matza is one of the most important symbols of the holiday, representing simultaneously the memory of our affliction as well as our freedom from bondage.

Often overlooked is the meticulous process necessary to make matza, especially shmura matza. Shmura (literally, guarded) matza is made from grain that has been under strict supervision from the time of harvest, to ensure it does not come into contact with any moisture. In addition, all of the kneading, rolling and baking has to be done with the intention that this matza will be used to fulfil the mitzva of eating it during the seder.

Rabbi Yerachmiel Strausberg has been baking shmura matza for more than 20 years, in France, Israel and, now, in Richmond, for his family and the members of Young Israel Synagogue of Richmond, where he has been the rabbi for the past two years.

Strausberg first got a taste for making matza when he lived in Israel and helped out in matza factories. He explained, “Traditionally, avreichim (professional rabbinical scholars) will go in groups before Pesach to supervise the baking done in factories. The main reason is that, aside from being Jewish law, ideally one should supervise his own [matza] baking, sometimes the commercial interests of the bakery conflict with the kashrut of the product.... It’s very important to be always on top of things, especially the cleaning of where the dough touches, and the insertion of the matza into the oven after it is rolled out and prepared.”

Being the do-it-yourself type, Strausberg was determined to make his own shmura matza every year, and this determination was the catalyst for some adventures.

Strausberg told the Independent, “I once baked [matza] in Paris, in someone’s living room, using a home-designed oven that was made from electric coils that came made from bathroom heaters, [but eventually] I bought an oven which was a custom-designed, gas-furnaced oven made in Israel, where one matza fits into it at a time, and [there is] a specially designed stone on which the matza sits. The stone is designed to retain extremely high heat and the matza will cook in 20 to 30 seconds.”

The oven was transported in parts when he moved, but Strausberg carried the valuable stone on the plane. He recalls getting some curious stares, sitting there with a huge bubble-wrapped object, but said that, once he told the flight attendants what it was for, they were interested in learning about Passover and how matza is made.

The process is very demanding, according to Strausberg, because “from the time that water hits the flour to the time that matza goes into the oven, it has to be under 18 minutes. The water has to be specially drawn from a river and left over night, [and] the flour has to be specially guarded from contact with all moisture from the time of reaping, and the reaping, grinding and sifting is all done with a specific intention of accomplishing the mitzva of eating matza on Pesach.” This year, Strausberg went to Lynn Canyon to get about 20 litres of water for his matza-making process.

Strausberg usually bakes around three pounds of matza in an 18-minute period. In between each period, the utensils and all surfaces must be scrupulously washed. Also, the specially designed tool for making holes needs to be changed every 18 minutes.

“The nicest part of making it ourselves,” Strausberg said, “is that, traditionally, we make what is called matzot mitzva, which means it is baked on the afternoon before Pesach. It’s traditionally baked then because this time corresponds to the time that the Passover sacrifice was brought to the holy Temple in Jerusalem. So we bake matza at the same time that the sacrifice would have been brought.”

Strausberg pointed out another plus to making one’s own matza: “Obviously it tastes fresher and much better!”

Elizabeth Nider is a freelance writer living in Richmond.

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