[Avodah] If You Are Choshesh for GeBrochts You MUST be Choshesh that Youir Matza is Chamets

[Akiva Miller via Avodah]

R' Micha Berger wrote:

> If the matzah is sufficiently baked but insufficiently
> kneaded, would any of the dry flour that went through
> the oven be still capable of becoming chameitz if wet?
> If the dough is now too baked to rise any further,
> wouldn't lo kol shekein any flour -- a fine powder -- be
> too toasted to be a problem? See Hil Chameitz uMatzah 5:5,
> which discusses things not to do because "shema lo qulhu
> yafeh." But where the flour is within baked matzah, how is
> that possible?

What's the shiur of "qulhu yafeh"? Maybe roasting flour is more
time-consuming than baking matzah? You want to say they're the same,
but who knows? If we had a better handle on these things, our Pesach
breakfasts could be farina or oatmeal made with chalita, but we have
forgotten how to do that correctly.

I have a friend who has been a Home Economics teacher at the local
public high school for about 40 years. She likes to point out how
different baking is from cooking. Cooking, she says, is about flavors,
and you can put just about anything you like into a pot, cook it for a
while, and it will be okay. "But baking is all about chemistry." You
have to get the right ingredients in the right proportions at the
right temperatures for the right time, or it will be a disaster.

This distinction doesn't show up in Hilchos Shabbos, but it certainly
does in Chometz UMatzah. Timing is key. I have no idea what the poskim
say about varied situations of "shema lo qulhu yafeh", but it is very
easy for me to imagine that if there is some dry flour inside the
matza dough, the matza could be adequately baked while that flour is
still not yet roasted enough to prevent later chimutz.

Akiva Miller