Shailah of the Week by Rabbi Zvi Nussbaum

Rabbinic Coordinator, Kosher Hotline Administrator for the Orthodox Union

I baked bread in my oven at the same time as I was baking meat. Can the bread be eaten at all? Can it be eaten with dairy?

The Gemara forbids baking fleishig bread – that is, bread baked in a meat oven – because one might accidentally eat the bread with dairy (Psachim 30a). Similarly, dairy bread is to be avoided as well. 

If one did bake fleishig bread, it may not be eaten – even with parve or meat foods.

However, if the bread and meat were baked separately in the same oven and did not intermingle, then it might be permissible. The only issue is that the bread absorbed the meat’s aroma (reicha). In halacha, after the fact (bedieved), we consider this aroma as an intangible, and it is nullified (botel) in the bread. The bread is not off limits and may be eaten with meat.

However, Rema (YD 108:1) opines that it is preferable not to eat this bread with dairy because it is simply preferred not to rely on the nullification of the meat aroma. However, should there be no other bread available, Rema permits eating it with dairy.

For more information on ingredient concerns in bread see here.