Matzo substitutes

The closest match as a cracker, since these are also plain, crisp and lightly baked. The differences are that they are saltier, more flaky and layered rather than snapping cleanly, and most contain a little fat, so they taste slightly richer than matzo's dry, faintly toasted plainness.

Best for

serving with chopped liver, cheese or dips, topping soups, crushing into a crumb coating, matzo ball substitutes are a different question

Choose the least salty option available and cut salt elsewhere in the dish, since matzo is usually unsalted. Carr's Table Water biscuits are the closest in flavour, and cream crackers are the closest in size and thickness.

For matzo lasagna this is very nearly the same object: a dry flour-and-water sheet that softens as it absorbs sauce. They stay noticeably firmer and chewier than matzo, which goes soft and almost custardy, and they taste of durum wheat rather than plain flour. The result is a better lasagna and a less authentic one.

Best for

matzo lasagna, layered baked dishes, mina and pie-style bakes

They need more liquid than matzo does, so make the sauce a little looser and cover the dish with foil for the first two thirds of the bake. Break them to fit rather than trying to trim them neatly.

The best answer when you simply cannot buy it, and easier than people expect. Mix to a stiff dough, divide, roll each piece as thin as you physically can, prick all over with a fork so it does not balloon, and bake on a preheated tray at 250C / 475F for 4 to 6 minutes until blistered and dry. It tastes fresher and a little more wheaty than shop-bought.

Best for

matzo brei, matzo lasagna, crackers with dips, grinding into matzo meal, year-round cooking

Work fast and keep the pieces thin, or you get flatbread rather than a cracker. Important: a home-baked version is not kosher for Passover, which requires a supervised process completed within eighteen minutes using specially watched flour. Use this for cooking, not for the seder.

Sturdier than matzo and usually made with rye, so it is darker, denser and much more assertively flavoured, with a nutty sourness matzo does not have. Excellent under toppings, where its strength is an advantage, and poor in matzo brei, where it stays gritty and grainy instead of softening.

Best for

cheese and dips, chopped liver and pate, open sandwiches, crumbling as a topping

Choose the plainest, thinnest variety rather than a seeded or multigrain one. Do not use it anywhere the matzo is meant to soften in liquid.

A workable route for matzo brei specifically. Tear the bread, spread it on a tray and dry it at 150C / 300F for 10 to 15 minutes until brittle, then use exactly as you would matzo. It stays a little bready and chewier than matzo, which goes properly custardy, but the dish works.

Best for

matzo brei, savoury bread puddings, crumbing

It must be genuinely dried out and brittle, not just toasted, or it will turn to paste the moment it hits the egg. Note that pita and lavash both contain leavening, so this is a year-round option and not a Passover one.

Right shape, wrong texture, and the honest weakest option. Tortillas are soft and pliable and will never shatter, so anything that depends on matzo's crispness fails. In a layered baked dish they hold up well and simply eat softer and chewier, more like a lasagna made with crepes.

Best for

matzo lasagna and layered bakes, wrapping fillings, when nothing else is in the cupboard

Toast them dry in a hot pan first to drive off moisture, or the finished bake will be soggy. They will not work at all for a cracker, for matzo brei or for grinding into matzo meal.