Kosher Bread and Baked Goods
Kosher bread and baked goods have special rules.
We can only speculate why this is so.
It might be because of the dramatic transformation from grain,
to flour, to dough and to the finished product. Like all
the kosher regulations, those that apply to bread heighten
our awareness as to the Source of our food.
An Orderly Explanation
I promised you an orderly website, so in discussing
kosher bread I'll present the rules in a chronological way
Bread begins as grain
which becomes flour
which becomes dough
which is baked and served.
There are separate rules at each stage.
The rules about grain are called yoshon and chodosh.
The rule about dough is called challa.
There are separate articles (see below) about those two stages.
The rest of this article is about the last two stages,
the baking and the serving.
The Baking - or Bakery - Stage of Kosher Bread
In another article we discuss rabbinic enactments
affecting interactions between Jews and non-Jews.
To avoid being repetitive I'll review only the highlights
here. (See below to find the other article.)
A Jew is required to cook his own food and refrain
from eating food cooked by a non-Jew
1) to prevent socializing which could lead to intermarriage and
2) to avoid mistakes in the food.
There is a slight twist in a similar requirement
regarding baked goods.
Pas Yisroel, Pas Akum, Pas Palter
First, the terminology. Pas is the term used for bread.
Pas yisroel is bread baked by a Jew.
Pas akum is bread baked by a non-Jew.
Pas palter is commercial bread
baked in a non-Jewish bakery. By the way, this discussion is only about kosher bread
- kosher ingredients, kosher oven. A Jew can never be
permitted bread which is not kosher.Notice that baking differs from cooking in that
there are three choices instead of two.
Cooked food is either cooked by a Jew and permitted
or it's cooked by a non-Jew and forbidden.
Kosher bread however is in one of three categories:
If it's baked by a Jew it's pas yisroel and permitted.
If it's baked by a non-Jew it's pas akum and forbidden.
If it's baked in a commercial bakery - surprise -
even if that bakery is owned and operated by non-Jews
there is a lenient middle ground. It is called pas palter
- commercial bread - and, if truly kosher, is generally permitted. Why?
It may be because there were no Kitchen-Aids when the
enactments were instituted. There were no washer-dryers either
but there were lots of children. It may be because bread is so necessary,
so uncomplicated but so labor-intensive.
Whatsoever the reason(s), the Rabbis - these are the Talmudic
sages empowered to enact safeguards - saw fit to permit
kosher bread commercially made by non-Jews.
The only time that pas palter is to be avoided is
in Elul - the month prior to Rosh HaShana.
Here are Your Choices
If you choose to implement this fully, check the label
on bakery goods that you buy.
You are looking for the words pas yisroel
in English or in Hebrew. If you don't find it, the product may
be pas palter and permitted anyway.
Products to which this applies would be
bread, tortillas, wraps, rolls and bagels. Many other
items might be included in the requirement. Talk to your
rabbi and/or examine this article about the
pas yisroel
requirements of kosher bread.
Bread at The Table
The rules that cover handling bread include
a restriction that may surprise you.
Dairy bread - that is, bread with dairy ingredients
is only permitted subject to certain conditions.
The reason for this and all the following safeguards is
that bread is a common food found at any meal, meat
or dairy. The sages worried that the dairy bread might
be served at a meat meal.
Therefore they permitted it if it was so small that the
loaf would be finished at one sitting. Pizza, because it
is very recognizable is also permitted. Only if
there is something unique about it is dairy bread
permitted at all.
Any bread which is served at a meat meal should not be
then served at a dairy meal and vice versa. The reason
is because the bread may have absorbed
something at the other meal.
Return to
When May I Eat It?
for
links to the articles mentioned above.
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