Almost every culture and religion has different types of breads as an integral part of its dietary ritual and so does the Jewish culture. The Jewish people have had a long tradition of suffering and uprooting and some of its traditions may seem extreme, especially when it comes to preparing and consuming food, these were the essential guidelines to make sure people remained healthy under hostile conditions. Although many modern-day Jews don’t strictly follow the old laws when it comes to eating, during various religious ceremonies and occasions most Jews try their best to serve only kosher foods and desserts.

According to laws of Kashrus the breads consumed by the Jews must be kosher in order to make them fit for consumption. Kosher breads must be prepared under strict guidelines and only allowed ingredients must be used. For instance, breads must not contain dairy products. There is a reason for that.

According to Kashrus dairy products and extracts should not be consumed with meat. Breads and meats are the most common ingredients of any meal and people might inadvertently consume milk or butter with meat while having bread and meat. This is the reason dairy products should strictly be kept away while preparing kosher breads. It also goes without saying that meat products should also not be used while baking breads. The utensils in which the breads are baked must be kosher too.

The kosher dough can be prepared using any one of wheat, oats, rye, spelt, and barley and their mixtures. After the batter is prepared, or even after the bread has been baked, you can set aside a small portion as “challah”, ideally, the size of an olive, and then burn it afterwards. Challah has a religious and spiritual significance, symbolically, as it basically means keeping aside a small portion of your food for poor.

Kosher breads must also be baked using conditioners and oils that are kosher themselves. This is often not possible as most breads these days come prepackaged but there are many bakery vendors that adhere to strict kosher laws while baking their breads. You may also find signs on packages declaring the products as kosher.

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Tags: Kosher, Kosher Food

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 at 11:45 am and is filed under Kosher Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.