DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

Click Here to Sponsor Daily Halacha
"Delivered to Over 6000 Registered Recipients Each Day"

      
(File size: 690 KB)
What Beracha Does One Recite on Pita Chips?

One of the snacks commonly sold today is toasted bread chips. The chips are made with the same ingredients as bread – flour and water, with a bit of seasoning – but they are baked until they are dry, hard and crunchy. Should we regard these chips as a snack, similar to pretzels and kaak, such that their Beracha should be "Mezonot," or are they considered just like bread, and require "Ha’mosi"?

There is a general rule that once bread is baked, the bread retains its status of "Ha’mosi" thereafter. If a person puts a piece of bread in the toaster to make it crunchy, it nevertheless retains its formal Halachic status of bread and requires "Ha’mosi." As opposed to snacks like kaak, which from the outset are baked into crunchy snacks, most pita chips and the like are baked as ordinary bread, and then broken into small pieces and baked again until they become crunchy. Since the chips were initially baked as bread, they require "Ha’mosi" even though they were subsequently baked a second time. This is the ruling of Hacham Ovadia Hedaya (1890-1969), in his work Yaskil Abdi (vol. 1, Orah Haim 9).

Although there may be some companies that produce the chips differently, and therefore each company’s procedure needs to be determined, the vast majority of pita chips are first made as ordinary bread and then baked again, so their Beracha is "Ha’mosi."

Summary: Although pita chips are dry and crunchy like snacks, they nevertheless require "Ha’mosi," as they are generally first baked as ordinary bread.

 


Recent Daily Halachot...
Should One Pray Minha Ketana Without a Minyan Instead of Minha Gedola with a Minyan?
Halachot Concerning the "Mesader" Who Calls Congregants to the Torah
Is A Person Required To Stand During Chazara (Repetition of the Amidah)
Is One Required to Miss Work to Pray with a Minyan?
“Barechenu” and “Barech Alenu” Between 7 Marheshvan and the Beginning of December for Travelers to and From Israel
“Mesuve Ve’Ose” – The Unique Challenge of Accepting Obligation
One Who Realizes During the Amida That He is Facing the Wrong Direction; Facing Northeast or Southeast During the Amida
Does a Kohen Who Serves as Hazzan Recite Birkat Kohanim?
Facing the Kohanim During Birkat Kohanim
How Many Kaddishim are Recited When Three Sifreh Torah are Read in the Synagogue?
The Tefilah of ‘Hodu’ Before Baruch SheAmar
Arranging the Torah Scrolls on the Teba When Two or More Scrolls are Read
Idle Chatter During Pesukeh De’zimra
How To Make Up Missed Shacharit and Musaf in Minha of Shabbat
Reciting the Amidah With the Chazan When One Comes Late to the Synagogue; Other Situations Where One Recites Kedusha During the Silent Amidah
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found