Sunday, April 20, 2008

The Bread of our Affliction

Every year during Pesach, Jews eat matzah. We eat this unleaven bread partly to remind us that when the Israelites fled from Egypt they did not have enough time to let their bread rise. It is also called the bread of our affliction.. I had never considered it so until yesterday. Before I discovered I was a celiac, matzah was a favored food. Marc and I loved to make matzah and eggs with garlic and onion matzah on Sundays.

I've been on a mission for years to find a gluten free matzah for us to use at the seder. The easy and obvious choice is for us to buy gluten-free oat matzah.
However, to our bitter regret, we've discovered that we are part of that small group of celiacs for whom oats is a no no.


So yesterday, I made gluten free matzah from Gluten-free bay's recipe. The stuff doesn't fulfill the mitzvah of eating matzah because it isn't made of one of the five grains (wheat, barley, rye, oats or spelt) but it sure does fulfill the concept of eating the bread of our affliction.



Notice how the matzah and the countertop bear a striking resemblance to each other? That's because they both taste about the same with the countertop probably inching out the matzah as better tasting.

I don't want leave you with the impression that all of Gluten-Free Bay's recipes are bad. This was the first flop that I have cooking from her recipes. Generally they are very good, however, I thought it particularly apt that this matzah was so terrible.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, your bread looks impressively close to the counter top. Too bad the recipe didn't work out so well. At least you have something to fix your countertop with if you chip it ;)
Thats the hardest thing with GF baking, trying to replace something so specific, it never tastes the same!

Alison said...

Oh, no--I have Glutenfreebay's recipe in the oven right now (the comments on her blog were positive)! I hope it doesn't taste like your countertop!

Did you ever find a gf matzoh recipe that you actually like?

Shez said...

Nope, have not yet found one. I gather that the "Bread from Anna" mix makes a good "matzah". Last night we had Mexican "Matzah". I toasted sprouted corn tortillas. I figure that since we can't have any of the 5 grains, we may as well eat something we enjoy. Please let me know how they turned out for you.
Chag Sameagh.