Hardtack

By special request of some of the folks I am working with at my internship this spring, I made up a recipe of hard tack.  I did not have a recipe for this in any of my cookbooks, so I googled the topic and this is one of the recipes that I came up with:

Assistant Commissary General of Subsistence - Lt. Col. C.L. Kilburn - Notes on Preparing Stores for the United States Army and on the Care of the Same, etc, with a few rules for Detecting Adulterations - Printed 1863


Under Hard Bread

Should be made of best quality of superfine, or what is usually known as extra superfine flour; or better, of extra and extra superfine, (half and half). Hard bread should be white, crisp, light and exhibit a flaky appearance when broken. If tough, solid and compact, is evident the fault is either in the stock, manufacture or baking; it should not present the appearance of dried paste. If tough and pasty, it is probably manufacture from grown wheat, or Spring wheat of an inferior kind. In all cases it should be thoroughly cooled and dried before packing. Kiln drying, where practicable, for long voyages, is particularly desirable; but if really and thoroughly dried in the oven, hard bread will keep just as well and its flavor is not destroyed. To make good hard bread, it is essential to employ steam; hand work will not do.



The dough should be mixed as dry as possible; this is, in fact, very essential, and too much stress can not be placed on it. Good stock, dry mixed, and thoroughly baked, (not dried or scalded) will necessarily give good hard bread. If salt is to be used, it should be mixed with the water used to mix the dough. Both salt and water should be clean. Bread put up with the preceding requirements should keep a year; but as a usual thing, our best bread as now made for army use, will keep only about three months. Good, bread, packed closely and compactly should not weigh, net, per barrel, more than 70 or 80 pounds; should it be heavier that 80 it indicates too much moisture. The thickness of the biscuit is important; it should not be so thick as to prevent proper drying, or so thin as to crumble in transportation. The quality of stock used for hard bread can be partially told by rules mentioned in the article 'Flour,' as far as they apply. The term 'sprung' is frequently used by bakers, by which is meant raised or flaky bread, indicating strong flour and sound stock. The cupidity of the contracting baker induces him to pack his bread as soon as it comes out of the oven, and before the moisture has been completely expelled by drying. Bread of this kind hangs on breaking; it will also be soft to the pressure of the finger nail when broken, whereas it should be crisp and brittle.



The packages should be thoroughly seasoned, (of wood imparting no taste or odor to the bread,) and reasonably tight. The usual method now adopted is to pack 50 pounds net, in basswood boxes, (sides, top and bottom 1/2 inch, ends 5/8 of an inch,) and of dimensions corresponding with the cutters used, and strapped at each end with light iron or wood. The bread should be packed on its edge compactly, so as not to shake.



Bread thoroughly baked, kiln dried, and packed in spirit casks, will keep a long time but it is an expensive method. If bread contains weevils, or is mouldy, expose to the sun on paulins, and before re-packing it, rinse the barrel with whiskey.

(I found it here: http://kenanderson.net/hardtack/recipes.html )

As this doesn't have any ratios for the the recipe, I kind of fiddled with the concept and made up something that meets the criteria of the above treatise on hard tack, especially because I didn't want 10lbs. of hardtack.  I also ultimately didn't roll it out thinly enough, or bake it long enough, but that is easily remedied in the future. The following is my interpretation.

2 c. flour
1 c. water
salt to taste (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.

2. Mix all ingredients into a stretchy dough, knead in the bowl or on a lightly floured surface until the dough no longer sticks and has a smooth surface.

3. Roll the dough out to 1/2 inch thickness on a lightly floured surface.  Cut the dough into 2 1/2 inch squares and set aside on a ungreased baking sheet.  (Reroll remaining dough to continue to form squares until there is no dough left.)

4.  Use a fork to pierce the surface of both sides of the squares in even rows, without punching all the way through.  If you forget this step your hardtack may have small pockets of air which will bake unevenly in the oven.

5. Bake the hardtack in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, flip the squares and bake for another 30 min.

6. Let the hardtack cool completely before packaging, otherwise the steam will cause it to soften and lack that good hard quality we look for in hardtack.

When I packaged mine up, I wanted to give it an "authentic" sort of feel for the person I was giving it to.  I wrapped it up in brown paper and tied it up with twine.  Obviously, this would not be the way that it was stored when it was in use, but a soldier might have wrapped it up in a bit of cloth in his mess kit once he was issued it if he needed to travel anywhere with it.

Also I had a small bit of the dough left when I was done shaping the squares, which interestingly enough has the consistency of play-doh.  I gave this to my honorary godson, who is now about 15 months, it of course went directly into his mouth.  However, if you have such leftovers they are safe to give to your kids, and if you add a little food coloring can be lots of fun.  The only caveat which it has that play-doh doesn't is that it can mold, so watch for that.