here I blow my cover again. My very favorite matzos are the ones I bake myself. This started many years ago, I had no clue and grew the grain myself. It was rye which grew like a very beautiful weed in NY, and after the harvest, threshing, grinding and baking, I got these oh so ugly dark grey matzos that had jagged edges ( rye has little gluten, the protein that makes dough stretchy, we discovered at the seder that the matzos tasted like peanut butter. Fresh ground (+24hrs–halacha) whole grain matzo is a absolutely not cardboard experience. Ultimately I learned to get grain from Shatzer or the Spinka bakeries, Shatzer because they kept grain for meshugaiim like me, and Spinka because they grind on premises. Over the years I got good at it, and my legend spread to a chaver new to our neighborhood and together we built a full size oven. We did a hilchos matza seder for six months behabura, and then opened up the process to the community. This, I believe was the inspiration behind the new 5-Towns bakery( but we were non commercial) In the course of our studies we looked around at bakeries big and small( and family based) and we saw lots of things we didn’t approve of. I still make my matzos one or two at a time, and can give them hidurim that can’t be had otherwise. Now in EY, I was asked by my chaver to find a source for the stainless rolling pins. Based on some advice I sought out a bakery in Jerusalem that used them. This was a two table, continuous production facility, meaning there were multiple doughs worked on the crushing tables and at 18 minutes the rolling crews would switch tables. The baal habayis was fast asleep in a chair, so I waited for the 18 minute break to ask the mashhgiach. He was of no help, but I had come there for diferent limud. To my utter disbelief, they did not wash their hands between runs. I said to myself then that bli neder I will never again eat a commercial hand matza. I will end with these recomedations: Learn the halachot and see that they were written for a Mom and Pop operation, and in the Sh”ut of the Rogachover, you will find a piece on machine matzo, where he bemoans the commercialization of matzo.
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