Matzo

Matza or matzot in Hebrew sounds like מַצָּה and means "squeezed out or devoid of moisture. " In the Russian culinary tradition, matzo tortillas were called desalonica. Matza is an important component of the life of faithful Jews. Only this type of bakery products is allowed to be eaten during the Jewish holiday of Passover or Easter (in the Orthodox tradition).

It is believed that the first recipe for matzo was described as early as the ancient scriptures of Thor. In one of the chapters of the Torah, it is described how the Jews left Egypt, and so as not to hesitate to bake the first flatbread of matzo from fresh dough, which did not have time to sour, on the road. It is in memory of those distant and difficult times of wandering and disaster of the Jewish people that it is customary to eat matzo on Passover.

What is distinctive, the product itself and the recipe for making matzo have complex religious connotations. It turns out that the speed of making bread, which did not have time to leaven dough, symbolizes religious zeal or the desire for righteous life and the fulfillment of all spiritual commandments. Ordinary bread in the Jewish religious sense is associated with pride, which blinds a person, it is all about sourdough, which is used to bake most bakery products.

The ancient recipe for matzah and the way tortillas are made has not changed since Moses. Like thousands of years ago, matzo tortillas only need two ingredients: water and flour. Usually they take about three kilograms of flour, which is poured with a slide. Then carefully you need to pour half a liter of water directly into the center of the flour slide, it is advisable to do it as slowly as possible so that the water flows down in a thin stream.

After water has got into the flour, you need to immediately knead the dough, and be sure to make sure that no lumps form. After the matzo dough is kneaded, you need to roll out the tortillas themselves, which usually do not exceed
1. 5 mm in thickness. The rolled flatbreads of matzo are heated with a fork to produce characteristic holes throughout the body of the flatbread. The holes will help the air get out of the tortilla while baking in the oven. Usually matzo is baked at a temperature of 150 degrees Celsius.

And finally, the main condition for preparing a real and correct matzo is that the entire process should not exceed the total time of 18 minutes. It is believed that this is the time that should pass from the moment the water comes into contact with the flour to the final readiness of the matzo. If the manufacturing process took longer, then the matzo was not prepared in a kosher way and should not be eaten by faithful Jews.