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1. The group should be of 4 people. One person in charge of kneading, two people for rolling, and one by the oven. (A larger group will be too crowded, and everyone will just get in the way of one another.)

2. The dough should be exactly the size of 3 matzos. Person #1 takes care of the flour, water, kneading and all that.

3. As soon as the dough is ready, persons #2 and #3 are handed their pieces of dough. #2 will work on it the fastest, making it oven-ready, while #3 and #1 work on theirs a little slower.

4. After rolling, #2 makes the holes in his matzah, and #4 will take it to the oven.

5. When #2 has his hands empty, #1 hands him the third piece of dough to roll out, make holes, and send off.

6. #1, now free, returns to knead the next three-matzah batch. (Starting again from step 2.)

7. By the time #2’s matzah is baked, #3’s should be ready for the oven. (Meanwhile, #2 is working on the third matzah of the first batch.)

8. When #3’s matzah comes out, #2’s second one goes in. By this time, the dough from batch 2 should be ready, and they start again from step 3. (By this round it would make sense to have #2 and #3 switch roles, because #3 is now empty-handed, while #2 is still working on the third matzah of the first batch.)

Some pointers:
A: A Chai-minute shift holds about three rounds of steps 2-8, and takes approximately fifteen minutes. At this point everyone/everything washes up and the fifteen-minute shift starts over.

B: Every fifteen minute shift yields 9 matzos. (Depending on thickness of the matzah, this will usually be about 1 – 1 1/4 lbs. of matzah.)

C: Oven time is about 50 seconds, though there are many variables that strongly influence the speed of baking (including the humidity in the air!).

D: Take it easy! Don’t rush, as there is no point. Your matzos are limited to the capacity of the oven.

While technically, this is not really meant to be a time saver compared to the regular sized chaburahs in matzah bakeries, there is a certain serenity that you won’t find anywhere else. In addition, you can implement any chumras and minhagim as you wish, something that in a regular chabura or commercial bakery you’d have no authority over.

I hope it makes sense, and doesn’t come across as written too nerdy, but this is the “short” version of it… 😉

There’s a ton of fascinating science to the overall mtazha-baking process, including the type of fuel used (gas vs. wood vs. charcoal), weather conditions, origin of the wheat of which the flour is made, and even the length of the chimney! (But I have to leave something for the long version… 😀 )

Disclaimer: I haven’t tried it myself yet, I only got the details from a friend who’s been doing in an Ooni for a couple years now. I can get back with first-hand tips and/or changes once I actually try it. I do, however, run a regular chaburah for the past 15 years, so I am intimately familiar with the nuances of the general process.
« Last edited by Abebee on March 10, 2023, 10:53:08 AM »

Author Topic: Baking Matzah In An Ooni  (Read 8463 times)

Offline Dan

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Baking Matzah In An Ooni
« on: March 18, 2021, 01:23:20 PM »
Anyone use an Ooni to make their own matzah?
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Re: Baking Matzah In An Ooni
« Reply #1 on: March 18, 2021, 01:40:26 PM »
Anyone use an Ooni to make their own matzah?
Why do you need an Ooni? Does a regular kitchen oven at highest temp not cook fast enough?

Offline AsherO

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Re: Baking Matzah In An Ooni
« Reply #2 on: March 18, 2021, 02:29:06 PM »
Anyone use an Ooni to make their own matzah?

Now that takes commitment. Are you planning on going Yemenite and baking on Pesach itself? :P

So many considerations here, a few that come to mind:
A source and containers for drawing mayim shelanu
Getting shmurah flour
Storing shmurah flour
Keeping the flour and water separate
Kneading
Clean/disposable surfaces and utensils for rolling
a hole maker

and probably a whole lot more I'm not considering
« Last Edit: March 18, 2021, 02:36:01 PM by AsherO »
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Re: Baking Matzah In An Ooni
« Reply #3 on: March 18, 2021, 02:33:52 PM »
Why do you need an Ooni? Does a regular kitchen oven at highest temp not cook fast enough?

If I had to guess the Matzah bakery's ovens are 1500-2000 degrees (Fahrenheit), home ovens usually top out at 500-600. I don't know enough to extrapolate but it could be bake time in a regular oven takes 10 or 20 times as long. At the Matzah bakery the matzahs are in the oven for less than 15 seconds (5-10 if I had to guess), and with throughput like that they can bake 25-30 points in 18 minutes (starting from when the first drop of water comes near the flour, with the last matzah out of the oven before the timer ends, any matzahs coming out afterwards are discarded).
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Re: Baking Matzah In An Ooni
« Reply #4 on: March 18, 2021, 02:41:10 PM »
If I had to guess the Matzah bakery's ovens are 1500-2000 degrees (Fahrenheit), home ovens usually top out at 500-600. I don't know enough to extrapolate but it could be bake time in a regular oven takes 10 or 20 times as long. At the Matzah bakery the matzahs are in the oven for less than 15 seconds (5-10 if I had to guess), and with throughput like that they can bake 25-30 points in 18 minutes (starting from when the first drop of water comes near the flour, with the last matzah out of the oven before the timer ends, any matzahs coming out afterwards are discarded).
According to my measurements it is about 950 degrees and they are out in 12 seconds for white and 24 for whole wheat.
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Re: Baking Matzah In An Ooni
« Reply #5 on: March 18, 2021, 02:41:43 PM »
According to my measurements it is about 950 degrees and they are out in 12 seconds for white and 24 for whole wheat.

How did you measure the temp (inside on the surface)?
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Re: Baking Matzah In An Ooni
« Reply #6 on: March 18, 2021, 02:42:59 PM »
How did you measure the temp (inside on the surface)?
IR thermometer?
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Re: Baking Matzah In An Ooni
« Reply #7 on: March 18, 2021, 02:55:33 PM »
Feelings don't care about your facts

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Re: Baking Matzah In An Ooni
« Reply #8 on: March 18, 2021, 03:48:38 PM »
According to my measurements it is about 950 degrees and they are out in 12 seconds for white and 24 for whole wheat.
Ooni also reaches 950 degrees, so that could work.
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Re: Baking Matzah In An Ooni
« Reply #10 on: March 18, 2021, 04:00:05 PM »
Lechem Ooni

Haha




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Re: Baking Matzah In An Ooni
« Reply #11 on: March 18, 2021, 04:01:16 PM »
Lechem Ooni

Haha




I'll see myself out now.
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Re: Baking Matzah In An Ooni
« Reply #12 on: March 18, 2021, 04:03:32 PM »
Lechem Ooni

Haha




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Re: How Much Did You Pay For A Pound Of Matzah
« Reply #13 on: March 18, 2021, 04:19:19 PM »
IR thermometer?

To measure the surface deep inside?

I can't imagine this would be cost-effective for a small batch.
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Re: Baking Matzah In An Ooni
« Reply #14 on: March 18, 2021, 06:42:24 PM »
Lechem Ooni

Haha




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Re: Baking Matzah In An Ooni
« Reply #15 on: March 18, 2021, 06:51:04 PM »
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Re: Baking Matzah In An Ooni
« Reply #17 on: May 31, 2022, 03:21:14 PM »
More from @Work-for-ur-muny

https://www.dansdeals.com/shopping-deals/kitchen/hot-save-20-off-ooni-pizza-ovens-memorial-day-savings-plus-stack-75-amex-offer-thoughts-making-fantastic-pizzas-ooni/comment-page-1/#comment-1573747
Quote
Maybe I’d kasher one afterward to have an Ooni for meat pizzas or even steak as well?
You're not allowed to kasher from milk to meat or vice versa, unless it needs to be kashered for a different reason like if it became treif or for pesach.
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Re: Baking Matzah In An Ooni
« Reply #18 on: May 31, 2022, 03:25:59 PM »
You're not allowed to kasher from milk to meat or vice versa, unless it needs to be kashered for a different reason like if it became treif or for pesach.
libun may be different.
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Re: Baking Matzah In An Ooni
« Reply #19 on: May 31, 2022, 03:29:29 PM »
You're not allowed to kasher from milk to meat or vice versa, unless it needs to be kashered for a different reason like if it became treif or for pesach.
I was told I could let it burn for longer than I normally cook for and then blowtorch it.
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