What is the Bracha on Melba Toast?

Melba toast is a type of cracker. As previously noted, crackers are one form of pas haba’ah b’kisnin. So the bracha is Mezonos, right?

Melba toast is produced by first baking loaves of bread. After the bread is baked, it is left to sit for two days to dry out. It is then thinly sliced, and subsequently toasted. Rav Belsky, zt"l ruled that since the Melba toast starts out as a regular loaf of bread, it does not lose its Hamotzi status by being baked into a cracker later on, even though the final product was intended to be a cracker from the outset.

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.