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?
<div><br></div><div>I suspect not.</div><div><br></div><div>Is the freeze dried brother Matza?</div><div><br></div><div>I suspect not. Dehydrated dough is not Matza</div><div><br></div><div>Dehydrated dough may not be Chamets but it certainly is not Matza.</div>
<div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div>
<div><br></div><div>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.</div>
<div>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.</div>
<div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div>