Unleavened bread Unleavened bread Unleavened bread is any of a wide variety of breads which are not prepared with raising agents such as yeast. Unleavened breads are generally flat breads; however, not all flat breads are unleavened. Unleavened breads, such as the tortilla and roti, are staple foods in Central America and South Asia, respectively. Unleavened breads have symbolic importance in Judaism and Christianity. Jews consume unleavened breads such as matzo during Passover - various traditions explain this usage. Unleavened bread also features in some Western Christian liturgies during the Eucharist, a rite derived from the Last Supper when Jesus broke bread,
Passover contains an instruction to eat matzo, specifically, on the first night of Passover and to eat only unleavened bread (in practice, matzo) during the entire week of Passover. Consequently, the eating of matzo figures prominently in the Passover Seder. There are several explanations for this. The Torah says that it is because the Hebrews left Egypt with such haste that there was no time to allow baked bread to rise; thus flat, unleavened bread, matzo, is a reminder of the rapid departure of the Exodus. Other scholars teach that in the time of the Exodus, matzo was commonly baked for