Question:
We have celiac disease/ gluten-free family members. We recently discovered King Arthur flower made with
gluten-free wheat starch. This is a wheat derived product which has been processed in such a way as to extract the gluten. One made into dough and baked it tastes just like bread.
Can this be used for lechem mishne and hamotzi? Chayav in challah? What about matzo (for rest of chag -- it wasn't guarded for matza mitzvah, presumably)? What about for the mitzvah, because Even though it was not guarded, there was a question whether oat is indeed a five grain..
Answer:
Hello,
You have asked a very important question, (but as a preface, the answer to your question was given by a professional in this area.)
Let's break down the points:
Are our oats the oats of Chazal - The oats that we have today are the oats of chazal and therefore one could use gluten free oat matza for Pesach as well. The question of whether our oats are the oats of chazal was an issue raised by Professor Yehuda Felix. However all the poskim disagreed with Professor Felix and have taken on that our oats are the oats of chazal. Professor Felix's opinion was also challenged by Professor Mordechai Kislev, a well known archeological botanist. Therefore, since oats are one of the 5 species mentioned in the Mishna that one can use for matza, gluten free oat matza is the only solution for the mitzva of eating matza for those that need to avoid gluten. Gluten free oats can become chometz, since it is the starch that makes it chometz and so it is to date the only solution for the celiac community for the leil haseder. If you would like to know where to get reliable gluten free oat matza where you live, I suggest contacting [email protected] and they can direct you.
Gluten free wheat starch flour - The flour that you are describing is primarily made from wheat starch. In order to make wheat starch gluten free, the common practice is to create a dough from flour and water and then to dilute the dough further until the starch rises and the proteins fall. The starch is then extracted and dried out. One cannot bake proper bread from just wheat starch, so many ingredients are added in order to make the flour usable for bread. As you can understand, this flour is absolutely chometz and cannot be used for Pesach or be kept in your domain over Pesach.
Can gluten free bread made from wheat starch be used for Lechem Mishna - The poskim discuss whether one makes Birchas hamotzi on bread made from flour in which the gluten was extracted. The general opinion of the poskim is that it is like regular flour, specifically for those who cannot consume gluten. This discussion in the poskim is not relevant to gluten free oats which naturally grow without gluten as opposed to grains in which the gluten is extracted. Therefore, one can make hamotzi on bread made from gluten free wheat flour.
Birchas Hamazon - In order to make Birchas Hamazon on bread made from this wheat starch flour, one would need to eat a kazayis of wheat starch in the time span of four minutes. This is extremely difficult to calculate because there is no way to know what percentage of wheat starch is in the flour. Whereas companies like Molino use just over 50% wheat starch in their mix, King Arthur flour mix contains less than 50% wheat starch. Therefore, it is possible that one may need to eat around three kazaisim within four minutes in order to make Birchas Hamazon.
Chiyuv Challa - One needs to be mafrish challa on bread made from gluten free wheat flour, However, the question of the shiur and whether one should make a brocho on dough made fro, gluten free wheat starch is quite complex. There are three issues in regard to making a brocho. First of all, since you don't know how much wheat starch is in the mix, it will be almost impossible to know how much to use in order to take off challah. There are companies such as Molino, which add rice flour and rice starch into the mix which may also require hafroshas challa when mixed with wheat starch. Secondly, some poskim are the opinion that one cannot make a brocho of hafroshas challa on a wheat starch dough, since it is not the regular wheat grain. Thirdly, if during the process of extracting the wheat starch a dough was formed before the dough was diluted, it may have become a dough by a non-Jew and therefore not require hafrosho. Generally, when the starch is extracted, it is not made into a dough thick enough to be considered a thick mixture. Therefore, one needs to mafrish challa from dough made out of gluten free wheat starch, but no brocho should be made.
Best wishes
