Because I’m not Jewish, when a new book on Jewish baking came out just before Passover (which starts April 7), I thought a story on Pesach sweets would be a great idea.
I knew that the weeklong festival commemorates the story of Exodus: the release of the Israelites from captivity in Egypt. At its center is a ceremonial meal, each course symbolizing elements of the story, followed by a lavish dinner.
Beyond that, little did I know.
Little did I know that Passover is not associated with sweets. Strict "Kosher for Passover" rules complicate dessert-making: five key grains, including wheat, are forbidden if they are combined with water for longer than 18 minutes and allowed to rise or ferment. And, at least on the first night of Passover, even Jews not normally observant adhere to a key element of kashrut (kosher law): no mixing of meat and dairy, so butter and everyday margarines are out.
Little did I know that, because making over a kitchen for Passover is so time-consuming and expensive, many Jewish bakeries close during the season. They leave the baking exclusively to rabbinically supervised makers of matzo, an unleavened crackerlike bread.
Sweets are mostly made at home, using matzo meal, and not always with delightful results.
"Passover sweets don’t have a very good reputation," acknowledged Stanley Ginsberg, co-author, with baker Norman Berg, of "Inside the Jewish Bakery, Recipes and Memories from the Golden Age of Jewish Baking" (Camino Books, hardback, $24.95).
He credits this to poorly made packaged foods. "I’m not a fan of mass-produced food to begin with, but Passover (products) are especially egregious" — Bisquick-like baking mixes made with matzo meal, kosher-for-Passover margarine and artificial flavors.
The book’s Passover recipes, he said frankly, "maybe aren’t up to quality of non-Passover goods, but they’re far better than anything made from a mix."
In a side-by-side tasting of jam-filled pastries called Mini Schnecken, I was surprised: The butter short crust was to die for, but the Passover pastry made with fine-ground matzo was lovely, too. It had a nuttiness and rough texture that resembled baked goods made with whole wheat pastry flour. Both doughs went together easily.
Ginsberg learned baking from his paternal grandmother; he was upstairs in Bubbie’s Brooklyn apartment as much as he was at home. "She would give me dough to play with, show me how to fill cakes, spread the fillings in pies."
Ginsberg, whose varied careers have including teaching, advertising, freelance writing, speechwriting and financial planning, now owns an online cooking supply company, NYbakers.com.
He’s been envisioning this book for years. "I was always waxing nostalgic for the things I used to get as a kid that are just unobtainable now," he said by phone from his San Diego home. "I’m at the age where your ‘bucket list’ kind of kicks in. I knew I had to do it soon."
One dayhe posted a query on freshloaf.com seeking a recipe for onion rolls. Berg answered, and his information was "just spot on," Ginsberg said. Next came a delectable raisin coffee cake and some chat about Berg’s career as a baker in New York.
Ginsberg, who realized that even as a lifelong baker, he didn’t have the chops to reveal the inner working of Jewish bakeries, got on the phone.
Berg was skeptical: "Are people actually going to pay for something like that?"
Ginsberg persisted through a series of interviews via Skype. "This is going to be more than formulas; this is going to be a look behind the curtain," he told Berg.
And it is. The recipes, including a chapter on Passover pastries, are the ones Berg used for 25 years at such bakeries as Weber’s, Enrico’s, Yonkers Pastry and Greystone Bakery.
Recipe measurements are expressed in three ways: conventional cups and spoons, weight (ounces and grams) and by percentage (used to scale recipes up and down; if flour, for example, is 20 percent of the volume for two loaves, it’s 20 percent of the volume for 20 loaves; Ginsberg explains how to do the math).
The delight of the book is Berg’s down-to-earth voice, in stories of the bakery "caste system" ("cake bakers are the aristocracy and bread bakers the peasants") and of long, hot days of hard work ("Why Bakers Hate the Holidays").
Berg busts some myths (stale bread is not the secret ingredient in classic rye) and tells some tales (cake crumbs, used to thicken fruit fillings and other mixtures, are the true secret ingredient in Jewish bakeries).
Ginsberg’s opening essay tells how the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe went from downtrodden lives in their homelands to operating bakeries in the U.S., serving refined goods their ancestors could never have afforded (chiffon cakes, cheesecakes, tarts).
For Passover, favorites include macaroons (meringue cookies), mandelbroyt (sweet fruit bread), honey cake and sponge cakes. The flours are potato flour (whole dehydrated and ground potatoes), potato starch (made from the starchy flesh only) and matzo cake flour (finely ground matzo crackers).
So does Ginsberg keep kosher? No. But, like many Jews, during the Passover festival, "when it comes to leaven, we’re scrupulous."
Sweet tips
» In Honolulu, matzo meal is available at most larger grocery stores, but potato flour can only be found at some health food stores. Online sources include aviglatt.com and amazon.com. I never found kosher-for-Passover margarine, so I used Earth Balance Natural Shortening (Whole Foods), which is parve (neither meat nor milk) but might not be technically kosher for Passover; it would take a rabbi to tell you.
» Matzo cake flour is very finely ground matzo meal. Make it by whirring meal in a food processor for several minutes, then passing the meal through a fine sieve; this step makes a very fine flour — about a cup of meal becomes 1-2/3 cup of flour.
» Again, technically, even vanilla extract is chometz (forbidden); it contains liquor made with fermented grain. Try online sources of kosher-for-Passover powdered vanilla.
» Online sources: aviglatt.com, amazon.com, NYbakers.com. Recipes online: kosher4passover.com, www.koshercooking.com, couldntbeparve.com, joyofkosher.com
