Baking Shabbos Challah at the Same Time as or After Baking Meat

Am I permitted to bake my Shabbos challah in the oven at the same time that I am baking meat? What about right afterwards?

In a previous Halacha Yomis we discussed the Rabbinic prohibition to consume fleishig bread.

If bread is baked in an oven with meat that contains liquid, the zaiya (steam) of the gravy will be absorbed into the bread. The bread will be considered fleishig and unless it is a small amount or baked in a strange shape, the bread may not be consumed.

Based on the above, the Rama (Yoreh De’ah 97:1) rules that it is permissible to consume fleishig Shabbos challos, since they have a distinct shape and they are intended to be eaten on Shabbos.

If the meat was cooked without liquid, the bread is technically not fleishig and may be eaten. Nonetheless, because the raicha (aroma) of the meat is absorbed by the bread, in the first instance (lechatchila) the bread should not be eaten with dairy. In this instance, the Levush (Yoreh De’ah 97:3) writes that while the bread may be consumed, nonetheless it is preferable not to bake bread in an oven at the same time as meat, unless the pan is covered.

One may bake bread in a clean oven immediately after meat has been removed because there is no longer an issue of raicha or zaiya of meat. However, if the oven surface is noticeably greasy and  one plans to eat the bread with dairy foods, the oven should be cleaned thoroughly before baking bread  to avoid an issue of raicha.

The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt”l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.