52WoC Week 24: Historic Food - Matzo

When it comes to historic food, what could be more historic than something that dates back to Biblical times? I mean, there is an entire episode of the Rugrats dedicated to the explanation of matzo¹. But while it is historic, I feel like matzo gets a bum rap. Seeing as I am not Jewish, I was never forced to eat it for an extended period of time so maybe I'm just an outlier who enjoys snacking on it. Growing up, we always seemed to have a box of the square stuff and it was fun to munch on. Now that I'm an adult and can use the oven without supervision, I decided to take a stab at making it at home, and found that it makes a world of difference. When it comes out of the oven it's crunchy and hot with the perfect amount of salt - making it the ideal snack. What makes it even better is the fact that it's super easy to make (the longest part of the process is preheating your oven).

---

Matzo

Qty	Ingredient	Procedure
2 cups	flour	Preheat your oven to 500°F with a pizza stone on the lowest rack (if no pizza stone, use an upside down baking sheet). In a food processor with a dough blade, combine the flour and salt. Add the water until the dough starts to peel away from the sides of the machine. On a flour surface, seperate your dough into 8 parts. Roll each one out to about 1/8" thick. Poke with a fork over the entire surface to limit the amount of bubbles forming. Place on a pizza stone until brown on the edges - about seven minutes.
3/4 cup	water
1 tsp	salt

This recipe is quite easy but produces a wonderfully savory, crunchy matzo that makes a perfect midday snack. Start by preheating your oven to 500°F, ideally with a pizza stone on the bottom rack. If you don't have a pizza stone, an upside down baking sheet can do the trick. The stone/baking sheet helps the matzo cook in just minutes and gives you those beautiful brown edges and bubbles. While preheating, combine your flour and salt together in a food processor with a dough blade. Then start to add the water until the dough starts to pull away from the sides and forms a ball. You may need more water, if so, add it a tablespoon at a time. If you don't have a food processor, simply combine in a large bowl and kneed for five minutes. Separate your dough into eight pieces that are roughly the same size; no need to break out the scale. On a well floured surface, roll out the dough to about 1/8" thick. Then repeatedly stab the dough with a fork to prevent the formation of overly large bubbles. Just bust out your inner mugger and make sure to poke holes into the entire piece of dough. Place on the stone/baking sheet and bake until it is brown on the edges - roughly 7 minutes.

---

1. I know technically the episode is about Passover but they do an excellent job explaining matzo.  ↩