346. Pas Haba’ah B’kisnin

48:1 If one eats less than a normal amount of a loaf that is made from one or more of the five species of grain – namely wheat, barley, rye, oats, and spelt – and that loaf is not considered bread, then one does not wash ritually and say hamotzi before eating it. Rather, one says the bracha of mezonos beforehand and al hamichya after. This bread is called “pas haba’ah b’kisnin.” However, if one ate from it the amount normal for meal, it treated as all other bread and one must wash and bentch. (Editor’s note: A easily-seen example of this in action might be pizza, over which many people recite mezonos for up to two slices but wash for more. Consult your rabbi for practical halacha.)

48:2 What is a pas haba’ah b’kisnin? Some authorities say it is a pastry pocket filled with things like fruit, meat or cheese. Others say it means a dough kneaded with oil, fat, honey, milk, eggs or fruit juice. This is the case even if they also contained water, so long as the water is less than the other ingredient. We accept both of these definitions and treat both kinds of items as pas haba’ah b’kisnin. (Mishnah Brurah 168:35 also includes such items as crackers.)