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
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.
