[Avodah] Is Hand Matza Matza? What does the ShaAr HaTziYun Mean - It can be used for the Mitzvah of Matza?

[Meir Rabi]

If two twin pats of hand made Matza dough are separated, one is baked in an
oven and the other is freeze dried after which it is 'toasted' with a blow
torch - would anyone be able to tell the difference between the twins when
they are both at room temperature?

I suspect not.

Is the freeze dried brother Matza?

I suspect not.  Dehydrated dough is not Matza

Dehydrated dough may not be Chamets but it certainly is not Matza.

Slow baking, i.e. baking in the hot coals and ash of a fire may not be
hot/fast enough to be considered baked, perhaps it is just dehydrated.

It is this suspicion that is addressed by the ShaAr Hatziyun, that it is NOT
just dehydrated but is in fact BAKED and may be used for the Mitzvah of
eating Matza. If it was dehydrated then it is would NOT be Matza.

Today hand Matza is manufactured to be baked in as short a time as possible.
The ChIsh says that the test of dough being stretchy and forming threads
when pulled apart, (DIGRESSION which the MB says is not an effective test
when the Matza is cooled down - can anyone explain this to me? the dough can
be thread forming when hot but not when cold?) is not applicable to the even
the raw dough we use these days.
So we add as little water as possible to the hand made Matza dough; we roll
it as thin as possible and we bake it in as hot an oven as possible. People
who should know have told me that the ovens are heated to in excess of 600C
and 1300F.
This is all done in order to 'bake' the Matza as quickly as possible. This
is the Hiddur being pursued. Bake it BEFORE it has a chance to become
Chametz.

Here's a question: how do we know such Matza dough is baked by this process
perhaps - as in fact it appears to me to be the case - this is nothing more
than instantaneously dehydrated dough. It may not be Chametz but it
certainly is not Matza.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20100317/81905f79/attachment-0001.htm>