Update: Matzoh Bakeries are stopping to accommodate Chaburahs, as they don't send in advance WRITTEN INSTRUCTIONS & Only one person in charge!!!

Some of the Shmurah Matzah Bakeries are of the opinion that too many of the Chaburas, are well intentioned, but חבורה is a מכה הכתובה בתורה

HAND MATZOS- by Y. Shain- Y. Israel (Ed.) copies- kashrusy@aol.com

          In this short article, we will attempt to explain the various Minhagim, chumros and what to be on the lookout for when baking Hand Matzos.

          Wheat: For those concerned about Yoshon, ensure that the wheat is either winter wheat or planted enough time before Pesach, so that it has taken root before Pesach.

Besides having some verification of when it was planted, such as having a Mashgiach inspect the fields a few days before Pesach, some also utilize the records from the insurance company that granted the crop insurance.

In the past few years, there has been an issue with winter wheat; the gluten is very low, so some spring wheat is added in order to raise the gluten content. As Chasidim do not have a mesorah about Yoshon, they are generally less makpid about it. Nevertheless, one can certainly verify with their Hashgocha re: Yoshon.

 Harvesting time:

           Professional opinion differs concerning the ideal moisture content for harvesting. Ideally, it is best to harvest when the wheat is completely dry. (the drier the wheat, the better the flour). The issue is that once it’s אינו צריך לקרקע (does not require the ground anymore), should it rain, the moisture can theoretically create a chometz חמץ problem.

Wheat quality:

       Depending on the geographical location and the ground, wheat /flour will absorb water at a different ratio in one area compared to wheat planted elsewhere. It’s, therefore important to conduct actual comparative baking tests to ascertain which wheat (flour) source is more suitable.

Final Flour preparation:

       It’s quite common to combine whole-wheat (razoveh) flour together with white flour for taste & consistency purposes. Incidentally, this mixture also changes the ratio of absorption of the water. Some bakeries will mix the flour from different areas, which may pose a problem.

     Bakeries will usually be forthcoming with the source of the wheat (Arizona – California or elsewhere). It may be a reason for, concern however if the bakery refuses to share that information.

מים שלנו:

        There are various opinions concerning the time frame for drawing water from the well-מים שלנו. Note: Some bakeries use sink tap water for מים שלנו. There are valid differences of opinion in which shkiah time is used. If you have a strong opinion than it is best to ask BEFORE your appointment! (Some may be using Rabainu-Tam time).

Gloves:

       Some will want the kneader (aka “knaiter”) to wear non-powdered gloves or none. Some are concerned that the knetters’ hands may sweat, and should there be a hole in a glove, the accumulated sweat may escape through the hole into the flour or dough, so they don’t use gloves.

Some knetters’ hands were checked after they made multiple doughs, and although they wore gloves, their hands did not have any sweat.

Some change the bowls & gloves after every dough. Others will only change the bowl & gloves after the last dough of the 18 minutes or after every 4-6 doughs.

Other precautions:

     It’s important to visually and physically check the washed bowl to be certain that it is indeed completely dry.

There should be a vacuum by the knetter to pick up any loose flour in the air.

All the areas around the knetter’s area should be checked for residual flour especially around the windows & ledges of the person pouring in the water or the flour into, the knetter’ s mixing bowl.It is important to work with the driest possible dough, as is written by the חזון איש. Professional opinions are that a 42-45% water-to-flour ratio is ideal.

Some prefer to use wooden rolling pins while others prefer to use metal or aluminum rolling pins (easier to clean).

To have the dough workable & pliable to roll out, one must knead the dough very well, or as others use what’s called Finning. The “Finner” process consists of a heavy metal bar attached to a metal table on one side. The Finner bar is used to compress the dough, the dough is folded and compressed again & again by the Finner bar.

One should check the dough interior to ensure that there are no white specks of raw flour, [heard directly from Reb Yaakov Kamenetzky, Z”L]. When kneading by hand only, it’s more common to have white specks of flour in the dough. When finning is also used, usually there are less incidence of white specks.

The Finning process will increase the elasticity of the crumbly dough to make it workable. The longer it’s finned, the more pliable the dough will be and easier to work with to roll flat. The Finning tables should be constantly brushed off from the crumbs of flour accumulating even during the Finning process.

The knife used for the dividing of the dough log should be washed and/or cleaned on a constant basis. Others have it cleaned or changed in between every new log of dough.

After the dough is formed into a log by the Finning or the knetter, it’s passed to the person who will work the dough-log until he’s ready to divide the log into pre-determined pieces for the velgerers / rollers. There should be additional people working on those divided pieces of dough.

Some will roll on a marble or wooden table covered with paper, while others will work on metal tables.

By the way, the paper should be checked for starch as the paper does draw out some of the water from the dough.

The velgerers/rollers which should be more professional and experienced (such as may be often found at Chabura Matzoh baking), tend to press too hard on the dough when rolling/velgering as it raises the temperature of the dough by a few degrees. Therefore, it’s advisable only to use experienced rollers who coax the dough ,rather than press on the dough while rolling.

Some have a system that the same person who starts rolling out that piece of dough also finishes it to the proper size. Others use what’s called a “mas’chil and a gomer”, (a starter and a finisher).  Experience has shown that the second method is more efficient, albeit more boring.

The dough should be rolled out so that the edges and the center are the same thickness, not that there is a thicker rim. Velgering is serious business. If someone feels that the velgering is somewhat beyond his capabilities, he should not be embarrassed to request another position.

If any dough sticks to the table paper, there may be too much water in the dough or a wet day. On a wet day,, they may have to adjust or decrease the water in the dough.

The rolling pins should never be kept under the person’s arms or taken out of the room at any time. At the 18-minute breaks the rolling pins should not be washed with warm water, only with cool water, so they don’t get warm.

Some are more stringent than others in שהיות / lapses during the entire process. E.g. kneading, finning, dividing, rolling/velgerin, bringing it to reddler (perforator), reddler table, bringing to oven.  שיטת הרא"ש / Shitas Ha’Rosh is no lapses at all.

The holes in the Matzah are made by a multi-wheeled rotary perforator (reddler). There are two types of perforators: the narrow ones that have 4 to 6 wheels or the wider ones that have 10+ wheels and are of a heavier weight.

Some clean the wheels with a wire brush every 18 minutes, while others will also remove them at the end of the day and burn them out with a torch or put them into an oven.

The perforator (reddler), perforates the matzahs on a table that’s lined with paper. That paper should move on a constant basis because it tends to collect little pieces of dough from the perforator that gets stuck to the paper.

After the perforator completes his work, somebody puts the perforated matzahs on a stick that someone else takes to the oven. There should always be enough sticks, so you don’t have to reuse them, within 18 minutes, as they may still be warm.

In general, at the regular productions they put 5 to 8 matzos on the stick to take them to the oven. Some use unwrapped wooden sticks that require sanding down from the particles of dough that get stuck. Many have changed to paper-wrapped sticks. The paper should, be changed after every time it’s used to take matzos to the oven.

There should be a physical wall until the ceiling, between the oven area and the perforating area. There are sometimes fans near the divider wall or partition to keep the oven heat out of the perforating area. 

It takes a very long time for the oven floor to absorb the oven heat. It may take 2-3 days. Most bakeries a restoke the oven on Motzei Shabbos.

Some ask for תנור ראשון, the reason being that the oven was burned out from previous possibilities of kuh’fulois, chometz, etc. The other side of the coin is that sometimes the oven floor is not as hot as the oven's interior. Others will not want a Sunday morning baking because of that concern. 

The one putting the matzahs into the oven is called the “shibber”. Depending on the width of the oven, they usually work with 2-4 rows of matzahs in the oven. Some use 2 shibbers, one to put in and one to take out. It’s more efficient to use 2 shibbers when possible.

It’s a fact that heat of the oven absorbs the water faster than the flour. It is, therefore,, important to work with the driest possible dough, as is written by the חזון איש.

Most commercial bakery ovens operate at 1100°F or above. Therefore, a dough that has a higher ratio of water will seem to be completely baked on the outside נקרמו פניה, when in fact, the inside is still not completely baked. When the matzo cools partially and feels hard, it was “dried” “not baked”.

.”Therefore, working with a very dry and crumbly dough is advantageous. It’s also important to have equal heat on both the oven floor and interior. (When making a pita dough, the heat draws the top of the dough, forming a pocket in the pita).

When matzah dough is put into the oven, it usually rises like a yarmulke and then settles down flat onto the oven. It will remain raised if the interior temperature exceeds the floor temperature.

The top of the matzah will have the proper color, while the bottom of the matzah will be dark around the rim that was sitting on the hot stone floor of the oven. The bottom of the matzo will be whitish, because it was getting baked from reflected heat and not from stone contact temperature.

The oven's interior towards the back wall is hotter than the front. Therefore, the further to the back the matzahs are in the oven, the quicker they get baked. The shibbers will usually start removing them back to front.

Some shibbers will move around the matzahs in the oven or put them near the door to finish baking. Another object is not to have matzahs moved around in the oven and to put them by the door.  Some very experienced individuals will feel the matzo as soon as it comes out of the oven to determine if the softness / pliable is from the heat or a not fully baked matzo. They should wear thick gloves as the matzos at that moment are very hot.

After the matzos are removed from the oven by the shibbers, they are put onto a table or basket to cool and sent to the packing room. Some will line the basket with a fresh cloth. Some check for kuh’fulois (folds), or soft matzos etc. at that point, immediately after coming out of the oven.

Counting 18 minutes

time frameThe 18-minute matzah baking time-frame begins when the water is poured into the flour and ends when the last matzos are put in or removed from the oven.  Alert: unbeknownst to consumers, some bakeries go until 22 minutes!

Hand matzos are of various thicknesses and different diameters. The range is from 6-7 matzos per lb. up to 10-11 matzos per lb. The more matzos to the lb. the thinner (and smaller) the matzos are.

To determine the real price of the matzos, it’s not a per pound price to consider but the per matzo price.

CHABURAH MATZOS: Chaburah Matzos should be made only in a bakery that has in place a relatively good system for their non-Chaburah matzos.

The Chaburah should improve (not hinder) the system by bringing sufficient individuals to do certain chores,

Mayim She’lunu- which shkiah; 

Goal is a dry crumbly dough,

Timing issues;

18 minutes maximum from putting in water until removed from oven, how often the bowls (and gloves) get changed? 

How long is the kneading or finning, cleaning off the finning tables & bars constantly, working the dough pieces by the divider, cleaning the divider knife; cleaning all crumbs from velgerers table, rolling pins should not be put under arm, washed with cool water, reddler wheels burned out, no matzah dough waits by velgerers, no matzah dough waits by the reddler, no waiting for matzahs to put onto stick that takes to oven, etc.

Paper/wrapped sticks, enough sticks available, so they don’t have to reuse any stick within the 18 minutes.

All Shitas Ha’Rosh, no sh-hiyas at all.

‘Ra”shi’ (רש"י) -flour is hand ground flour as opposed to רחיים של מכונה. (machine-ground flour).

Therefore it's recommended that everyone in your group arrives at the bakery at least 1/2 hour prior to your appointment to have enough time to get washed up and dressed and to become familiar with the operation. 

There should be only one person in charge of speaking to the head Mashgiach or Manager. That individual should ideally have many years of experience in baking hand matzos and be thoroughly familiar with the practical halochos.

On does not become a master matzoh maker/baker by just reading the above. It is merely our intention to educate the interested reader of the many intricacies involved in this very worthwhile and satisfying endeavor.