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Challah using rice or corn together with one of the five grains

Question:

How much rice flour can we use in rye or oats (cereals of the five species) to make challah with less gluten ?

 

Answer:

Hello,

Before answering your question, let’s go through the halachos regarding mixing flour of the five grains with other non-grain flour.

Any mixture between one if the five grains (wheat, barley, rye oats or spelt) and corn or millet do not combine to a shiur of challah. However, it is still possible for it to be obligated in challah if there is enough[1] rye or spelt to take off challah on its own. The Halacha is that we take Challah from these mixtures with a bracha if two conditions are met;

  1. The majority of the flour is from one of the five grains, and
  2. There is enough of that type of flour to make a bracha, then we can take challah with a bracha. This is because there is enough flour to take challah and it is the majority, therefore it is considered like a dough of the five grains.
  3. If only one[2] of these conditions is met, we take challah without a bracha. For example, corn muffins with 10 cups of rye flour, and 8 cups corn flour (i.e. most is wheat but there isn’t a shiur of rye flour), or a very large recipe with 17 cups rye flour and 20 cups rice flour, (there is a shiur of rye flour but there is more corn flour). In both of these cases we take challah without a bracha.
  4. If the five grains flour is the minority and there isn’t a shiur of that flour, it is controversial if challah has to be taken at all, but definitely not with a bracha.
  5. Wheat and rice mixture– It is important to note that when the mixture is between a mixture of wheat and rice, the halacha is different. This is because in certain ways when rice is mixed with wheat, the rice[3] “becomes like wheat”. Therefore if the dough has a taste of wheat, (which it usually does unless there is less than 2% wheat) even if there is more rice than wheat, and even if there isn’t a shiur of challah we still separate challah. If there is a shiur of wheat flour we will take the Challah with a bracha. However if there isn’t a shiur of wheat flour, it is controversial therefore it is preferable not to make a bracha[4].

 

Getting to your question, if you will mix rye or oats with the rice, if you don’t have a shiur of challah from the grain flour, and it isn’t the majority, you would not take challah off at all. If the grains are as shiur, then if they are the majority you would make a bracha but if they aren’t then take off challah without a bracha.

If you can make the dough using rice and wheat flour, then even if you use 2% wheat, you would take off challah without a bracha. If there will be a shiur of wheat flour, then challah can be taken off with a bracha.

Best wishes

Sources:

[1]  משפטי ארץ פ”א סע’ ט”ו שקמח חיטה או שאר ה’ מינים שנתערבו עם קמח תירס וכו’ שדינם שווה לשעורים עם אורז וכו’.

[2] משפטי ארץ פ” סע’ י”ד. שאם יש שיעור מהה’ מינים ודא’ שחייב להפריש אבל לענין ברכה יש בזה מחלוקת, לדעת הרמב”ן אין המיעוט מקבל דין הרוב, וכן בחזו”א דמאי י”ג י’ הובא במשפטי ארץ שם הערה 52. ואם אין שיעור חלה בהה’ מינים אבל הוא הרוב וזה תלוי המח’ אם יש גרירה בשער מינים.

[3]  חלה פ”ג משנה ז’, וע’ רמב”ן הל’ חלה  עמ’ ל”א שהאורז נגרר אחרי החיטה ומקבל דין החיטה, וע’ שו”ע ס’ שכ”ד סע’ ט’ ט”ז ס”ק ט’, וש”ך סקי”ז.

[4]  מסתימת השו”ע שם בסע’ י’ משמע שמברכים אפילו אין בו שיעור הקמח החיטה, וכן במ”ב ס’ תנ”ג ס”ק י”ד כ’ ששעת הדחק אפשר לצאת במצה כזה ולא כ’ שאין לברך עליו, אמנם בחלת לחם ס’ ג’ סע’ י”ט כ’ שכיון שלדעת הרמב”ן, הראב”ד הרשב”א והאור זרוע שאין חיוב ממילא ספק ברכות להקל ואין לברך עליו, והובא דבריו בלקט העומר פ”ג סע’ י’, ומשפטי ארץ פ”א סע’ י”ג.

 

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