So What Blessing Do We Say Over Pizza?

Introduction

As we have already mentioned, in the Shulchan Aruch (168, 7) it is explained that there are three conditions for pat haba'ah b'kisnin (bread whose blessing is mezonot), which are: a. filled b. kneaded c. crispy and crumbly. We need to consider how to classify pizza - whether as pat haba'ah b'kisnin whose blessing is mezonot, according to the 'kneaded' category, or perhaps it should be considered regular bread, in which case even eating a small amount would require the hamotzi blessing.

We wrote that the opinion of the Shulchan Aruch is that if the taste of fruit juice is noticeable in the baked good made from the mixture - its blessing is mezonot, and this is the custom of Sephardic Jews. According to the Rema, only if there is a majority of fruit juice etc. relative to water - then one recites the mezonot blessing, and this is the custom of Ashkenazi Jews (Mishnah Berurah 168, 33). 'Majority of fruit juice' - refers to 100% natural fruit juice, but water added to juice and the like does not count towards the calculation of sweet ingredients (and this is the opinion of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt"l, and may he be separated for long life, Rabbi Shmuel Halevi Wosner shlita in Responsa Shevet Halevi vol. 9 ch. 44, and other poskim as brought in the book Vezot Habracha chapter 3).

The Blessing for Pizza

1. Some poskim hold that one should recite the hamotzi blessing on pizza, without addressing the issue of 'kneaded,' since nowadays many people eat pizza as a meal and not as a dessert, therefore it is not considered pat haba'ah b'kisnin whose blessing is mezonot (see this reasoning regarding sweet rolls in Responsa Sha'arei Zion O.C. chapter 5 and what he brought in the name of the Chief Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar shlita. And this is actually what the Magid Mishneh wrote in Laws of Blessings 2:9, that the entire reason for blessing mezonot on pat haba'ah b'kisnin is only because it is eaten as a snack and not as a regular meal).

2. In the book Halacha Berurah (part 8), the author discusses whether pizza and sweet rolls are similar to what the Shulchan Aruch wrote in section 17 regarding pastida, and wrote: "In our time, some make pizza dough with a majority of fruit juice or milk, and advertise that its blessing is mezonot. I have already elaborated from the words of many poskim who believe that even with a majority of fruit juice, their taste must be noticeable in the dough, and so wrote in the book Birkat Hashem part 2, who also ruled to recite hamotzi and birkat hamazon on pizza, and see also Responsa Revavot Ephraim (vol. 7 chapter 68)."

Summary of the Halacha: For Sephardim the common pizza today requires the hamotzi blessing and birkat hamazon, since the taste of the mixture is not noticeable, and dough kneaded without oil and milk requires hamotzi even if it has tomato paste, and this clearly appears to be the opinion of our great teacher Rabbi Ovadia Yosef zt"l in Chazon Ovadia. (Except for homemade or industrial pizza that is known with certainty to have the taste of the mixture evident in the dough and you can taste it, and then only if eating enough for a meal does one recite hamotzi and birkat hamazon) See also Responsa Or L'Tzion 2:12.

For Ashkenazim there is a distinction: If it is pizza whose dough is made only of water and flour, its blessing is - by strict law - hamotzi (Mishnah Berurah 168:94, and so wrote in the book Vezot Habracha chapter 3 in the name of great poskim). However, if it is pizza whose dough is made of flour and a majority of natural, not reconstituted, fruit juice relative to water, or with a majority of milk, eggs, and the like, relative to water, its blessing is mezonot (the book Vezot Habracha ibid).

3. In any case, if one intends to eat enough pizza for a meal, which is two regular (triangular) slices of pizza (there are personal pizza triangles that are smaller, and one should pay attention to the correct measurement according to halacha) one recites hamotzi and birkat hamazon, and it should be added that for small children the measurement is different for Ashkenazim, and for them sometimes even one slice is considered a meal-sized portion, depending on what children their age typically consider a meal. (Vezot Habracha ibid).

Rabbi Shai Amar is a rabbi in Hidabroot's Halacha Department