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I've seen bread made with juice on airplanes and the insert says these are "mezonos" rolls. And, as we know, matzah is "HaMotzi."

In the first instance, it looks like bread but we treat it like cake, and in the second instance, it looks like a cracker/cake and we treat it like bread.

I thought the ingredients determine the bracha!

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related: judaism.stackexchange.com/q/3248/759 –  Double AA Apr 10 '12 at 1:03
possible duplicate of What is mazonot? –  Shmuel Brin Apr 10 '12 at 1:07
You agree that pasta and bread have the same ingredients... –  Double AA Apr 10 '12 at 1:11
@ShmuelBrin: I understand the reasoning of why this would be considered bread, so what is the reasoning why some poskim (London Beis Din) consider it mezonos? –  wizlog Apr 10 '12 at 1:25
@ShmuelBrin: Also, there is a custom to give egg matzah or "rich" matzah to children and older people erev pesach, as these do not have the same status as lechem oni. Are you saying the bracha for those should also be Hamotzi? –  wizlog Apr 10 '12 at 1:28

1 Answer 1

up vote 4 down vote accepted

For something baked to be Mezonos it must fulfill one of the following requirements:

  1. The dough is so liquidy one cannot roll it in one's hands and one fries it in a pan.
  2. The dough is so liquidy one cannot roll it in one's hands and one fries it in a hole in an oven (so it gathers in one spot and becomes thick there).
  3. Pas Habaah Bekisnin - There are three opinions as to what this refers to:

    • Normal bread that was kneaded with a majority of fruit juice.
    • Some say that the above mentioned "PAs Habbah Bekisnin" is normal bread. This opinion says that "Pas Habbah Bekisnin" is bread that we filled with a sweet filling before baking (so the filling is the ikkar and the bread is the tafel).

The Halacha is that one could rely on the first opinion, but a Baal nefesh should be stringent and wash on normal bread before eating.

Mezonos bread served on an airplane is "Pas Habbah Bekisnin" of the first variety. It is made from water and apple juice, so technically, it is a mezonos. As "flat bread" isn't on this list, it is Hamotzi.

This list is for Ashkenazim only. The Beis Yosef does add "flat crackers" to the list of "Pas Habbah Bekisnin" and therefore, SEfardim don't wash on Matzo year round.

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You didn't qualify that pat haba'ah bekisanin only gets mezonot when outside of a meal. –  Double AA Apr 10 '12 at 1:37
Also, noodles are mezonot because they aren't baked! –  Double AA Apr 10 '12 at 1:37
@DoubleAA: But bagels aren't baked either, I thought! –  wizlog Apr 10 '12 at 1:40
@wizlog I'm under the impression that some bagels are baked and some are boiled and some are boiled and then baked. If it is only boiled then it may in fact be only a mezonot. –  Double AA Apr 10 '12 at 1:42
I'd like one more response to my question before I designate this answer, as correct. –  wizlog Apr 10 '12 at 21:27

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