Matzo brei

[shain]

Matzo brei can be savory or sweet, and generally can be grouped into two forms. The first has the broken matzo cooked in a pan while stirring, producing a scramble of individual eggy pieces. The second is made by cooking the mixture into a pancake of sorts.

My recipe is of the second type, which over the years I opted to bake in a cake pan, allowing me to have a wetter mixture and requires less work.

 

I never tried to, but I'm pretty sure that this will work well with flatbreads instead of matzo. Dry the flatbread well in a low oven and weight them when dried.

 

Base batter:

• ~ 280g matzo (8 matzo), broken into rough pieces
• 6 eggs
• 420g milk
• 150g water (reduce if cooking as "pancakes")
• 1 tsp baking powder

 

Basic sweet version:

Add:

• 5 tsp dark brown sugar or silan (date syrup)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1.5-2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• optional: 2 tbsp milk powder
• optional: chopped walnuts, dates, raising, or other nuts and dried fruits

By itself, the sweet version is not really that sweet, I usually serve it with one or more of the follwoing:

• Haroset
• Sour cream (or cottage cheese) and honey
• Maple syrup or silan

 

Basic savory version:

You can add whatever you think will suite stuffing or baked pasta.

• Cheeses - feta, Kashkaval, Swiss, etc.
• Vegetables - browned onions, leek, spinach, chard, mushrooms, etc.
• 2-3 tsp salt (2 should be enough if you add salty cheeses)

Here's my favorite savory version - with leeks and cheese.

 

Method:

• The batter can be made a day ahead.
• Place broken matzo in a large bowl.
• Heat the water and milk and pour over matzo. This allowes for faster soaking, don't bother heating it if your making the batter a day ahead.
• Let chill before mixing in the eggs and other ingredients.
• Let soak (an hour or so, at least). 
• Once the liquid is mostly soaked, mix well and pour into a well battered cake pan, casserole dish or loaf pan.
• Bake in medium heat (180 C) for 30-45 minutes, until nicely browned and set. Brush the top with butter mid-way baking for added crispness.
• Serve hot.
• Reheats very well in oven or microwave.

 

 

Edited April 17, 2020 by shain (log)

[weinoo]

Looks good; I'm of the scrambled persuasion, after first browning the softened matzoh...

 

 

With a few scallions added during the scramble.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

15 hours ago, weinoo said:

Looks good; I'm of the scrambled persuasion, after first browning the softened matzoh...

 

 

With a few scallions added during the scramble.

 

Thank you, shain and weinoo, for these two disparate concepts.    I look forward to enjoying both!

[Dr. Teeth]

Shain, that is the most beautiful matzo brei I’ve ever seen, and matzo brei is a childhood favorite of my wife’s.    I’m going to have to try to make it for her.     Thank you for sharing.