One of the more common questions in Halacha Lema'aseh (practical halacha) is what happens when somebody eats bread that has something sweet on top, or something that gives it a different taste. Is there a difference if the change is in the dough itself? The major Machloket (dispute) between the Shulchan Aruch and the Rama is about how sweet it has to be, or how much it has to change the original taste of the bread. According to the Ashkenazim (Ashkenazi Jews), it has to be extremely sweet. Matok harbeh, what's extremely sweet; it's very difficult to quantify. You can't say that X amount of sugar would make a dough mezonot (blessing over grain foods).
According to the Sefaradim (Sephardic Jews), the Shulchan Aruch makes it a little easier. Is anything that differs from regular bread? Take a baguette: regular bread is bread. If you change that—if you make olive bread, cranberry bread, raisin bread, sweet bread—whatever you change from the original bread would be mezonot. According to Ashkenazim, it's more difficult. What makes it? I saw some people make even a chocolate challah (traditional braided bread). What's chocolate challah? It's a watered-down babka cake. So on babka, mezonot; on chocolate challah, they'll say HaMotzi (Who brings forth bread from the earth). It's very hard to know when. But let's talk more about Sefaradim, because Ashkenazim are much more toward HaMotzi than Sefaradim.
For Sefaradim, any change—the rye bread that has caraway seeds, for example—is mezonot. So let's see, what's the Chiddush (new insight)? The caraway seed is very strong. If you eat that, it doesn't taste like regular bread. So anything that you change would be mezonot. What happens if it's on top? If you put sesame, poppy seeds, or things like that on top, is that going to make your bread mezonot? That's a she'ela (question). According to Hacham Ovadia, who quotes a Biur Halacha, the Biur Halacha talks about the sesame bread that they use to serve on Purim. They put sesame on it. Sesame does not have a very strong taste. It's not a very strong flavor that you get from sesame. You get some, but it's not like putting spice or poppy seeds; it's a very mild flavor. It's almost more decorative than anything else. But it gives a little something. Don't forget, the Biur Halacha is commenting on the Rama. If you feel the taste of the sesame more than the taste of the bread, then it would be mezonot, according to the Biur Halacha. For Ashkenazi, if the sesame is so strong, then it would be like this. This is the Biur Halacha.
Now, on that point, Hacham Ovadia says something like this: “The Biur Halacha was talking about part of the dough. You make a dough, and part of the dough is sesame.” Here, he was talking about Israeli bagels, regular Israeli bagels that are full of sesame on all sides. So it's on top, not inside. The dough itself is pure dough. He says it makes no difference whether it's on top or inside. Hacham Yitzchak quotes his father. He says, “This is a psak (halachic ruling) that my father said makes no difference.” Meaning, whatever you're going to do inside, you're going to do outside. If that's the case, then if you adjust this halakha for Ashkenazi, the taste of the sesame has to be stronger than the taste of the bread. For Sefaradim, that's not needed; you just need to change the flavor of the bread to something else. When you bite into this everything bagel, which has colic and all the stuff that they put in there, it strongly changes the taste of the bread. For Sefaradim, regardless of whether it's outside or inside, it would be mezonot. If it's inside, it's easier. If it's outside, it changes the taste. It would be mezonot. Hacham Yitzchak quotes...