Happy Pesach, friends! For those of you who aren’t Jewish, Pesach means Passover. What is Passover, you may ask? In a nutshell, Passover is the celebration of the emancipation of the Jews as slaves in Egypt. Here’s a great website for more information if you’re interested in learning. And I encourage you to do so!
Besides the food, which is obviously tantamount to any familial celebration, my next favorite thing about Passover is spending time with family. It may be a long, drawn out service known as a Seder, or it may be a quick and to the point Seder. But regardless of how it is celebrated, the Seder is great fun. Family stories are retold and embellished, new stories are created, bellies are stuffed full of delicious foods, and kids usually run rampant around the house with cousins or friends.
The downside to Passover is the matzah. Matzah is delicious and wonderful on the first two nights of Passover. After the first days of matzah-eating, one may become matzah-fatigued. At this point, you need to start getting creative with your matzah use. There’s matzah brei, matzah pizza, apple matzah kugel, spinach and matzah pie, and more. After eight days of matzah, one is quite ready to eat “real” food again.
As you know, today is recipe Monday. I was planning on sharing a delicious beet recipe with you today but in the spirit of Pesach, I’m going to throw something ethnic your way. I challenge the non-Jews of my followers to make this at home. It is a very simple, very yummy, homemade matzah recipe!
Matzah Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 C flour (you can use white or wheat)
- 1 C water
Directions
Preheat oven to 475˚F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Mix together the flour and water. Knead the dough on a lightly floured board until it is smooth. If the dough sticks to your hands or board, add more flour as needed (a little bit at a time).
Taking a piece of dough roughly the size of an egg, roll it out on the floured board very thinly. Place it on the baking sheet and prick all over with a fork. Continue this process until your baking sheets are filled up. Bake about 3-5 minutes, or until crunchy. When cool enough to handle, remove from baking sheet and lay on wire racks to cool completely.
Congratulations! You have just made your first matzah!! I hope you enjoy it. And if you’re interested in more matzah-based recipes (like the ones listed above), please email me! You know I would love to share with you. 🙂
Happy Pesach!
