Using Store-Bought Flour for Matzah and Matzah Ashirah
I want to explain a practical point about flour on Pesach that many people today may not realize.
When I was growing up in the home of my father, Rabbi Yitzhak Abadi זצ״ל, we used to make matzah and matzah ashirah ourselves at home. In those days, flour often had small clumps in it from moisture and humidity during storage and transport. These clumps could become chametz, which is why flour always had to be sifted. Because of this concern, we used to buy flour from a matzah bakery, where the flour was kept completely dry and chametz-free.
Today, this situation has changed. Commercial flour (like the regular brands sold in supermarkets) is produced and packaged in a way that keeps moisture out, and the flour is completely powdery and does not form those clumps anymore. That is why people no longer sift flour today — not for Pesach and not for the rest of the year — because the old problem of moisture causing clumps and possible chametz has essentially been eliminated in modern production and packaging.
Therefore, if you buy regular flour from the store and keep it in a dry place, preferably sealed, this flour may be used to make matzah on Pesach, provided you follow the normal rules:
- Use only flour and water
- No yeast
- From the moment water touches the flour until it is baked must be under 18 minutes
- The oven should be very hot and ready before you begin
- Work on a very clean surface with clean tools
The matzot you make will look more like pita or lafa, which is actually what matzah originally looked like. These do not last long, so they should be eaten fresh or frozen soon after baking.
Matzah Ashirah (Flour Mixed With Fruit Juice)
You can also use this flour to make matzah ashirah — dough made with fruit juice instead of water (for example: apple juice, orange juice, eggs, oil, etc.). With fruit juice alone, the dough does not become chametz.
However, an important rule:
Fruit juice mixed with even a little water can become chametz.
Because of this, store-bought fruit juice is often a problem, since many juices contain added water. The best solution is to use fresh juice made from fruits (using a juicer) — fresh apple juice, fresh orange juice, etc.
Using fruit juice, eggs, oil, sugar, chocolate, etc., you can make cakes, brownies, and other baked goods for Pesach. They will not rise like regular cake, but they can still be very good.
Ashkenazim and Matzah Ashirah
Many Ashkenazi rabbis were strict about matzah ashirah, but even in Ashkenazi communities it has long been used for children, the elderly, and for Erev Pesach, and it is essentially what is sold today as egg matzah.
Sephardim eat matzah ashirah on Pesach. Ashkenazim who are guests in a Sephardi home should follow the custom of the place they are in.
Pesach does not have to mean eating only dry machine matzah. With a little work, you can make fresh matzah and many other foods at home, and this is very likely much closer to what matzah originally looked like.