31 What is the recipe for hardtack? (U.S. Civil War)
Description
This article is from the U.S. Civil War FAQ, by Justin M. Sanders jsanders@jaguar1.usouthal.edu with numerous contributions by others.
31 What is the recipe for hardtack? (U.S. Civil War)
Recipes for hardtack vary from extremely simple to more elaborate.
The simplest is:
6 parts flour to 1 part water, mix, knead, roll out thin, and bake until
hard.
From: tecump@sulu.ucsb.edu (Dominic J. Dal Bello)
For about 10 crackers (1 ration):
3 cups flour
1 1/2 or so tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
water to form to a workable dough.
Kneed the dough. Crackers should be cut to about 3"x3" (although some
contractors made 'em 5x5, even 7x7). When you cut the dough, I have found
that it should not "pull away" - if it does, it is still too wet. With a
nail, or similar object, punch about 16 holes in each cracker (4x4 pattern
- although this was not the only way to do it). Put in oven at about 375F
for about 50 minutes - this is what I find to work for me; different ovens
may act differently. In any event, it should be brownish on the bottom.
Your not "baking" cookies here, you are essentially trying to heat all the
water out of the cracker. Take out and cool. - they should get hard.
"Evidence" indicates that hardtack was made with "self-rising" flour.
If I recall right, however, no specifications have been found as to what
the government actually called for. Some recipes call for oil, but I have
found that it has no effect on the final product. In any event,
experiment with kneeding, etc., time to bake to get a final product which
is a nice hard slab of flour.
From: zursch@solaris.wpd.sgi.com (Jeff Zurschmeide)
2 cups flour
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp baking soda
2 tbsp vegetable oil
salt to taste
water to consistency
Mix up well, (dry ingredients first, then wet) roll out thin, bake at 450
degrees about 15 minutes, or to tooth-breaking quality.
From Merle Kirck:
We make it for our Living History programs. here it is:
3 cups milk
8 cups plain flour
8 tbl spoons shortening (crisco)
6 tea spoon brown sugar (opt)
3 tea spoon salt
Mix, roll on floured board, to 1/2" thickness. cut into 3" squares, punch
holes 3 rolls of 3 with ice pick, Lightly grease baking pan, Bake in oven
400 deg for 45 min or till golden brown, cool in open air. Don't store in
plastic (no plastic in 1800's) because of moisture.
This recipe is the same they used except the sugar. We have found that
a good dose of cinnamon, and not cooking it as long is good eatin'.
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