Lechvod ha mesadrim HaDaf:
In the Background of the Daf you write-
>>(c) The Minchas Machavas consists of ten Matzos baked in an oven on a pan called a Machavas, which has ten raised sections. The portions of dough lie on the elevated parts of the pan so that most of the olive oil drains off, causing the dough to bake into brittle Matzos. Levonah is added, Hagashah, Kemitzah and Haktarah are performed (see Background to Menachos 59:1a:c). The Sheyarei ha'Minchah are eaten by the Kohanim (Vayikra 2:5).<<
You explained the dough of the machavas as being baked on elevated portions of the tray, w/ the oil draining off.
But from Rashi it's mashma that the pan was flat and oil evaporates. What is your mekor and are we learning Rashi correctly??
kol tuv,
Ephraim and Yaakov HaLevi - Los Angeles
After having looked into the matter anew, I believe that the Background is correct in this matter. Rashi writes that "... [Al] Shuleha Tzafin Etzel Ogneha, u'Mispazer ha'Shemen b'Ognei ha'Kli ..." This translates as, "... it floats [upon] its bottom [which is] next to its rim, and the oil disperses in the rims of the vessel ...". Rashi may mean as Rabeinu Gershom and the Rambam write; namely, that the Machavas was flat and that the oil simply ran off the side. He may mean that there was a recess on the side of the Kli which the oil ran off into, as the inverse of the Marcheshes described later in the Gemara. Either way, the oil is described as "running off", not evaporating. (Technically speaking, olive oil does not evaporate as water does. It can partially evaporate very slowly over months to years, and even then leaves a sticky varnish.)
However, I do not know any source for that which the Machavas had ten raised sections. It would seem from the Sugya and Rishonim that it had one raised section, and that the entry should read as follows:
(c) The Minchas Machavas consists of ten Matzos baked in an oven on a pan called a Machavas, which has a central raised section.
M. Cohen