Ingredients

2 c. shmura or all-purpose flour

200 mL cold water

Preparation

Step 1Preheat your oven as high as it will go, ideally 550°.Step 2Place a large baking sheet inside the oven while it heats.Step 3Combine flour and water in a large mixing bowl. Knead the ingredients together (aggressively!) for about 5 minutes, until no residual bits of flour remain and you have one large, smooth ball of dough.Step 4Place the dough on a flat surface, and, with a rolling pin, roll the dough out to about 1/2-inch thickness.Step 5Using a fork, lightly poke the entire surface of the dough until it is covered with tine marks. Cut the dough into 3 even pieces—they do not have to be identical in shape!Step 6Remove the baking sheet from the oven, place the three pieces on the tray, and put the tray back in the oven.Step 7Bake for about 15 minutes, until air pockets start to form and the matzo is slightly golden in parts. Let cool for 5 minutes and serve immediately.

But this year, as you may have heard, is different. I’m not going to be home with my family for Seder and I’m so sad about it. In an attempt to make my tiny NYC Seder a bit more personal, I reached out to my brother and sister-in-law, Barry Dolinger and Naomi Baine, the co-founders of Mitzvah Matzos, a shmura matzo company that donates all proceeds to fighting human trafficking.  Barry walked me through the differences between this homemade matzo and the kind that frequents most people’s Seder tables (he explains most of them in the video above, but I’ll give you a hint: this matzo is a much more intimate tribute to the story of Passover and why it is we eat a flat, unseasoned bread for eight days a year to begin with). What it all boils down to? Flour, water, aggression, and time. If you do it right, you’ll have homemade matzo in exactly 20 minutes—he explains the significance of that number in the video too.  I loved learning more about—and making with my own two hands!—this Passover essential. And I felt great about it in the process. After all, it is a mitzvah to even eat the stuff. Chag Sameach!