Matzo, Gluten-Free

Hey everyone! I’m busily working on my book–it’s due in about a month and a half.  Wow. Things are going well, though, and I’m getting more and more excited about it as each day passes!

Since I haven’t had a chance to blog much lately, I thought I’d give you a recipe for gluten-free matzo that I’ve developed for my gluten-free Jewish pals.

As you may or may not know, matzo is a cracker-like flatbread from the Jewish culture.  It symbolizes the dough that the Israelites didn’t have time to leaven in their haste to flee Egypt in the great Exodus.  Also, because it is also “poor man’s bread” (i.e., unleavened and made with simple ingredients), it serves as a reminder to be humble.  It isn’t supposed to puff up, which symbolizes the “puffed up” egos of those who are corrupt and vain.

Up until 2015, trying to make a gluten-free matzo was fraught with issues surrounding Jewish rules around what was kosher to eat at certain times of the year.   As you may know, at Passover Jews are not allowed to eat chametz grains.  These are what the five “original” grains (wheat, barley, rye, oats and spelt) are called if they have been in contact with water for more than 18 minutes.  If they have been in contact with water for more than 18 minutes, they are called “chametz.”  This is because they might have begun the fermentation and rising cycle and risen grains are not allowed.

When I first wrote this post, I thought the above information meant that things made with rice flours were OK.   As it turns out, there was another twist in Jewish tradition.  Up until 2015, Ashkenazim–the Jewish ethnic identity most readily recognized by North Americans (Jews from Central and Eastern Europe)–weren’t allowed to eat kitniyot foods during Passover.  The word “kitniyot” means “legumes,” but during the Passover holiday it takes on a broader meaning to include grains and seeds such as rice, corn, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, soybeans, peas, green beans, and lentils, in addition to legumes.  This made things really tricky for gluten-free Jews in the US.  Then, in 2015, the Rabbinical Assembly declared kitniyot kosher for Passover!  Wow!

All of that said, these got a thumb’s up from D’Ahub and Girlfriend.  They demolished each cracker as I removed it from the oven.  They’re not fancy, but they do the trick!

Matzo (Matzah), Gluten-Free

Yield: 4 large matzo crackers

Ingredients

• 3 1/4 cups (470 grams) Jeanne’s Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour Mix
• 1 1/4 cups (295 mls) water
• extra tapioca flour for rolling

Baking Directions

1. Place a pizza stone in a middle rack in the oven. Preheat oven to 475 degrees F/240 degrees C/Gas Mark 9. If you don’t have a pizza stone, then just position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat it to 475 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, place flour. Add water. With a spoon, mix the flour and water until combined. Complete the mixing process with your hands. The dough should be firm and tacky but not too sticky. Add a bit more flour or water, if needed, to create the right texture.
3. Form dough into a large ball.  Divide the dough into 4 pieces.
4. Place a large piece of parchment paper on your rolling surface. Sprinkle the parchment paper with a little bit of tapioca flour. Place one of the balls of dough on the floured parchment paper. Sprinkle the top of the dough lightly with a bit more tapioca flour.
5. With a rolling pin, roll dough as thinly as you can. It should look a bit transparent in places. Use more tapioca flour as needed to make sure the dough doesn’t stick to the rolling pin.  With a fork, pierce the dough all over. This is called “docking.”  This step is imperative, because matzo isn’t supposed to puff up. It’s supposed to be a flat cracker-like bread.
6. Trim the parchment paper around the rolled out dough to about 1 inch more than the size of the dough all the way around. Place the parchment paper with the rolled dough on the pizza stone in the oven (or if not using a stone, place it on a baking sheet and place sheet in the oven). After 3 minutes, grasp the baking cracker with a pair of long tongs, and with your hands, pull the parchment paper out from underneath the cracker and discard the parchment paper. Bake for another 3 minutes. With a pair of tongs, turn over the baking cracker. Let bake for another 2 minutes, or until the edges become a bit brown.  Total baking time is 8-9 minutes.
7. Remove the cracker from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool. To serve, turn it over so the docked side is face up–it will look like the commercial matzo.
8. Enjoy!

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