I have already recreated the original recipe of the Exodus Matzah, as described in my article, Biblical Emmer Wheat Passover Rekik Matzah – רקיק מצה. This recipe is basically the same, but it uses ancient Einkorn wheat instead of Emmer, and is my recreation of what the rich Israelites could have probably baked after they have settled in the Land of Israel. Einkorn wheat was much more prevalent in the Land of Israel than it was in Egypt, although Emmer still was the most prevalent wheat variety in Israel as well. See Zohary, Daniel, Maria Hopf, and Ehud Weiss. Domestication of Plants in the Old World: The origin and spread of domesticated plants in Southwest Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean Basin. Oxford University Press on Demand, 2012. p. 38. The reason, I speculate that it was the rich Israelites using Einkorn is because it does not have high yield and therefore the poorer classes simple could not afford it, and second it results in much fluffier and softer dough, while it is much stickier and harder to work with than Emmer. So it would be the rich who would bother dealing with it, since they could afford slaves who would do the kneading for them.
Biblical Einkorn Wheat Passover Rekik Matzah Recipe - רקיק מצה
Biblical Einkorn Wheat Passover Seder Rekik Matzah is made with ancient Einkorn Wheat and water only. It is Kosher for Passover according to strict rules of Kashrut. This recipe has been recreated based on an ancient Egyptian recipe for a flat bread called Raqaq, which is identical to the Biblical Matzah made during the Exodus, and called Rekik Matzah mentioned in Exodus 29:2 and Numbers 6:15. Einkorn wheat was more prevalent in the Land of Israel than in Egypt, where the Emmer wheat was mostly used. This matzah recipe is more authentic to what the rich Israelites would have eaten once they have reached the Promised Land.
Prep Time 8 minutes
Cook Time 3 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 11 minutes
Servings 3 Matzot
Ingredients
- 2 cups Einkorn Wheat Flour Stone Ground
- 1/2 cup Water Room Temperature
Instructions
- Set aside a pitcher of room temperature water. The temperature of the water should be 68 - 77 degrees F (20-25 degrees C). The traditional method of getting the water to be the correct temperature is to put the water into a pitcher and let it sit in the room away from direct sunlight for at least 12 hours (usually over night) until the temperature reaches equilibrium. However, for the sake of saving time you can simply mix warm and cold water and measure the temperature with a thermometer until the correct temperature is reached.
- Place a ceramic pizza stone on the top shelf of the oven, which is right below the top heating element. Turn the oven to broil so that the upper heating element is on. If your oven does not have an upper heating element use the broiler. The Matzah must bake right next to the heating element or it will not fully bake quickly. Do not use the oven fans.
- Preheat a ceramic pizza stone in the oven for at least 1 hour at 500 degrees F (260 degrees C). Do not start mixing the ingredients until the pizza stone is complete heated through. Keep the oven on at 500 degrees F (260 degrees C), before mixing the ingredients with the hot pizza stone inside the oven.
- Place 2 cups of the Einkorn Wheat flour into a large stainless steel bowl in which the dough will be kneaded.
- Set the timer for 18 minutes. This is the maximum allowable time that can pass between the mixing of the flour and water and all of the dough being fully baked, in order for the Matzah to be Kosher for Passover according to strict rules of Kashrut.
- Slowly add 1/2 cup of water to the flour in the bowl.
- Quickly knead the dough with your hands by folding it over and over. The dough will form into a nice firm ball after 4-5 minutes of kneading. Note that the Einkorn flour is very hard to work with. It creates a very sticky dough that takes longer to form in the right consistency than other flours. This may require extra time to knead it and adding extra flour on to the kneading and rolling surfaces to prevent sticking.
- Sprinkle a large wooden cutting board, which will be your rolling surface, with some flour to prevent sticking. Take the ball of dough from the bowl, place it onto the rolling surface and roll it with your hands into an even cylinder slightly shorter than the width of the cutting board.
- Cut the dough cylinder into 3 even pieces. Set 2 of the pieces aside on the cutting board and with your hands roll the remaining piece into a small ball.
- Take a wooden French rolling pin, rub some flour onto it with your hand, and begin rolling out the dough ball into a flat pancake. Keep rolling the dough into different directions so that the pancake comes out to be round. The final thickness of the pancake should be about 2-3 mm (0.08 - 0.12 in). This step should take no longer than 1 minute.
- If you would like a perfectly round shaped Matzah, after it has been fully rolled out, you may want to press a round 6 in (15 cm) or 8 in (20 cm) cookie cutter into the dough and remove the remainder of the dough around the cutter.
- Place the rolled out pancake onto a wooden pizza peel.
- Repeat steps 10-12 with 2 more pieces of dough that you set aside, until you have 3 dough pancakes placed on to the pizza peel, which should make it full.
- Insert the pizza peel into the oven and carefully shake off the 3 pancakes onto the pizza stone. You might want to slide out the shelf with the pizza stone from the oven so it is easier to place the pancakes on it without getting burnt. Close the oven door and stay next to the oven. Do not walk away.
- After 1 minute open the oven door and check if the Matzah started to become slightly brown and bubbles started forming on top of the dough. Once that happens flip all 3 Matzot onto the other side. Check the Matzah again after no more than 1 minute. The total baking process should take no longer than 2-3 minutes.
- Take out the Matzot from the oven using the wooden pizza peel and place them on a plate or a wooden board to rest.
- The whole process must be competed in under 18 minutes in order to be compliant with strict laws of Kashrut. This is easily achievable if all steps are done efficiently. Enjoy.
Notes
The Matzah should be very soft and fluffy. Einkorn Wheat Matzah should taste similar to White All-Purpose Flour Pita.
2 questions: complete milling of flour was not, I believe, invented prior to the last couple of centuries, so wouldn’t it be more authentic to use rinkorn whole grain flour? (I will admit that the “upper crust” Israelites could have had their flour sifted through cloth to remove some of the bran);
Secondly, I thought matzoh had to be pierced before baking—presumably with metal skewers or knife tips. Do you know? Thanks.
It would be more authentic to use Einkorn Whole Wheat flour. I think when I wrote this post I could not find it in stores. What I found now is that Bluebird Grain Farms sells whole wheat Einkorn online. Where as in Whole Foods they only sell Jovial All Purpose Einkorn flour from Italy which is white.
Traditionally Matzah was never pierced. Piercing is a modern invention probably from the 19th century to push out air and make the Matzah very thin so it bakes very quickly. Soft Matzah was never pierced.
Turned out great!
Awesome.
are you certain there is enough water in this recipe? the dough was very dry and not very sticky at all, as you warned it might be in the recipe.
Yes I am sure about the water for the flour I used. But there is a nuance that’s probably happening here. The ratios depend on which flour you use. I used Jovial Einkorn, which is a white flour made in Italy. If you use an American grown Einkorn that’s whole grain and not white then it will need more water and will not be as sticky. If you use a different kind of flour then the ratio would be different as well. You need to use it by eye and feel to see how the mixture goes. Can you please post which flour you used exactly, brand and type?