DIY Matzah

Three perfect maztot for your Seder

“Lo! this is the bread of our affliction.” That line comes from the Passover Seder Service or Hagadah (meaning a recitation). Now after a week of eating this stuff you may feel afflicted, but that is a result of not enough fiber (eat some prunes). Also you might feel afflicted by seeing the price of a box (or case) of Matzah. In that case I recommend that you make your own. It’s easier than you think and as an added bonus you can make it with high fiber flour, thus eliminating (if you pardon the pun) the other difficulty.

Matzah is intended to remind us of the Israelites who in their great haste to leave Egypt baked bread without letting it rise. Up until recently, raising bread was a matter of trying to entice the airborne yeast to settle and have kids on your dough, a time consuming process. It was slightly faster if you had a starter, but still could be 12-24 hours to get a dough frisky enough to make bread.

As a result Rabbinic instruction is that it should not take more than 18 minutes from the addition of the water to the finished matzah. If you work in small batches this turns out to be fairly easy. The resulting matzah is less like cardboard and more like what it was originally, rushed pita. For another take, check out Mark Bittman on matza.

The 100th Post! Chopping up a baby lamb

Our "course materials" fresh from the farm

Can we get a syndication deal now?

As a slight change of pace and in preparation for Passover, Gordon and I signed up for a lamb butchering class taught by the amazing Ryan Farr of 4505 Meats. In true heathen style I came across Ryan in a New York Times article on fried pig skin. In addition to the delicious sausages he sells at the Ferry Building Farmers Market, Ryan is known for his amazing chicharrones, that he thoughtfully shared with us at the end of class (along with some grilled kidneys and other treats). The class was held in San Francisco non-profit,  incubator kitchens of La Cocina.