How To Make Hardtack Taste Good

This hardtack recipe is very easy to make. As you probably know, hardtack is a survival breadstuff & historic settler food with an extremely long shelf life. If properly stored, hardtack can final for years. Hardtack has been used for centuries and was a historic mainstay for pioneers, settlers, sailors & soldiers when traveling on long journeys.

Hardtack is a very simple recipe and simply requires flour, h2o and salt. It is also a cheap way to create long-term survival or camping supplies. Information technology costs only pennies to make hardtack versus paying a fortune for MREs, freeze dried camping ground food, etc. Making hardtack is also a fun manner to show your kids what pioneers & aboriginal soldiers/sailors had to eat equally they traveled across the land or world.

Recollect To Soak Hardtack Earlier Eating!!!

Withal, please think that hardtack is Non a soft cracker, tender biscuit or fluffy sandwich bread. It is difficult semi-bland survival food that was historically used for long hard journeys (non gourmet meals!). When eating hardtack, information technology should be soaked first in water, milk, soup, stew, etc. for at least 5-10 minutes in guild to soften the hardtack before eating… because "hard"tack is kind of Hard. Historically, co-ordinate to Wikipedia, "To soften, hardtack was often dunked in brine, coffee, or some other liquid, or cooked into a skillet meal".

Cut Dough Into Squares

Ingredients – Hardtack Recipe (Survival Breadstuff)

ii Cups – All Purpose Flour – 240 grams – Do non employ self-rising flour
iii/4 Loving cup – Water – 175 milliliters
1 one/2 Teaspoons – Salt – 7.5 milliliters

Servings – 10-12 biscuits/crackers. For twenty-25 hardtack biscuits/crackers, you just need to double each ingredient in this hardtack recipe.

Equipment – Measuring cup & spoons, mixing basin, rolling pivot, cutting board, silicone spatula, baking sheets, oven mitts, cooling rack and an oven. Plus airtight food containers.

Apply Chopsticks To Poke Holes In Dough (Picture Earlier Baking)

Hardtack - Poke holes with chopsticks into the dough

Instructions – Hardtack Recipe (Survival Bread)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Mix the flour, h2o and salt in a bowl.
Subsequently mixing completely, the dough should be a little dry (and not stick to your fingers).
If your mix is nonetheless likewise sticky, you can add more flour in pocket-sized increments until the dough is dry plenty.
Use a roller to spread out the dough on a counter, big cut board, etc. until information technology reaches a thickness of roughly 1/3 to 1/2 inches.
To forestall sticking to the counter or cut board, you should spread a piddling flour on the surface before rolling the dough. Also spread a petty flour on top of the dough to prevent the roller from sticking to the dough.
Cut the dough into squares (i.east. 3 inch squares). You tin create foursquare hardtack "biscuits" by cut the dough horizontally & vertically on a large cutting board.
Poke narrow holes in the hardtack biscuits with a chopstick or fork. The holes should go all the way through to the other side of the hardtack. This prevents the hardtack from puffing up.
Place the hardtack biscuits on a blistering sheet/tray.
Put the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Wear oven mitts.
Flip the hardtack over with a spatula and bake for another 30 minutes. Wear oven mitts.
Remove the blistering canvas from the oven. Clothing oven mitts. Then use a spatula to remove the hardtack from the baking sheet. Place the hardtack biscuits on a cooling rack in order to cool downward.
When completely cooled, place the hardtack in an airtight container.
Please read the tips section below for extra information on how to make this recipe successfully.

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Related Bread Dad Sections

Bread Machine Cookbooks
Breadstuff Ingredient Kits – Broad diverseness of breadstuff mixes
Bread Tools & Equipment
Nutrient Storage & Preservation

Helpful Tips & Interesting Facts – Hardtack Recipe (Survival Staff of life)

If you want to print out this recipe, please curl downwardly the folio to our recipe widget "box". You lot will find a "print recipe" button located right under the product image photo in this box. Click on that button in order to impress out the basic recipe instructions.
Let me reemphasize that hardtack is NOT a soft delicious cracker!!! Information technology was created to exist a long-term survival nutrient that was less likely to spoil on long journeys. It was not designed to exist a tasty & salty snack.
Hardtack is not a white cracker (soft & crunchy). It will come out as a chocolate-brown baked hard "biscuit".
The thickness of the hardtack dough (earlier baking) should be between i/3 and 1/ii inches. Practise not make the hardtack too thick or information technology will not bake properly.
Hardtack is an unleavened bread. It does not use yeast, baking soda, blistering pulverisation, etc.

Do not use cocky-ascension flour! Self-ascent flour contains a leavening agent (normally baking pulverization). This recipe calls for the employ of all-purpose flour (that does not contain baking powder/soda or yeast). This recipe will non work properly if you use a leavening agent (i.due east. baking pulverisation/soda or yeast).
Some hardtack recipes include ingredients such as butter or vegetable oil. While this might make the hardtack softer and more tasty, it volition significantly cut downwards on the shelf life of the hardtack. Historic hardtack was made from only flour, water and table salt (or just h2o & flour if salt was not available).
Optional – Non very historic merely… you tin can reduce the salt by a 1/2 teaspoon and add a i/ii teaspoon of dried herbs/spices (i.e. ground pepper, stale rosemary or Italian seasoning) to this hardtack recipe in order to make the hardtack more palatable & flavorful.
Optional – You can make hardtack without salt. Still, it volition be VERY bland. Moreover, beyond improving the taste of hardtack, salt acts equally a natural preservative and helps hardtack final longer in storage.

Call back when eating hardtack, hardtack should exist soaked starting time in water, milk, soup, stew, etc. for at to the lowest degree five-ten minutes in guild to soften the hardtack before eating. Some experts think that very dry hardtack should be soaked for at to the lowest degree 15 minutes. However, you should just go along to soak the hardtack if it is still hard when yous try to consume it. After soaking the hardtack, you can eat it like a biscuit or experiment with frying information technology like Roman and Civil War soldiers!
Hardtack has been used by a wide range of military over the centuries including Roman soldiers, Crusaders, British navy sailors, Ceremonious War soldiers, etc.
According to Wikipedia, "Some men also turned hardtack into a mush by breaking it up with blows from their rifle butts, and then adding water. If the men had a frying pan, they could melt the mush into a lumpy pancake; otherwise they dropped the mush directly on the coals of their campfire. They also mixed hardtack with brown sugar, hot water, and sometimes whiskey to create what they called a pudding, to serve every bit dessert".
Make sure to place the baking tray in the centre of the oven. If you place the baking tray on the top or bottom rack, it might be near the oven's heating element (where the temperature will be hotter than expected). This could led to the hardtack burning.

Hardtack must be completely cooled before you try to store it because the absurd downward helps to consummate the drying procedure. Some people like to get out the hardtack on the cooling rack for a least a 24-hour interval in order to end the drying procedure (in a not-humid environs). Others recommend letting information technology dry out for several days on the cooling rack.
To keep hardtack from going bad, it must be stored in an airtight container (in gild to prevent moisture from reaching the hardtack). Proper nutrient storage is specially important if you are using hardtack equally role of your long-term survival food supplies.
Some people also similar to use vacuum sealing for the long-term storage of dry nutrient products (i.e. hardtack). For more information, you might like to read the Wikipedia articles on vacuum packing and food preservation.
Other long-term survival foods include canned food, MREs (Meals Ready to Swallow), dried goods (i.e. dried beans, grain & rice), pasta, freeze dried food, etc.

Hardtack is besides known as survival breadstuff, survival biscuits, etc. Moreover, according to Wikipedia, it has also been called "cabin breadstuff, airplane pilot bread, bounding main beige, soda crackers, body of water bread (equally rations for sailors), ship'due south biscuit, or pejoratively as dog biscuits, molar breakers, sheet atomic number 26, tooth dullers, armor plates (Germany) and worm castles".
According to Wikipedia, "Interbake Foods of Richmond, Virginia, produces most, if not all, of the commercially available hardtack in the United States, nether the "Sailor Boy" label. As of Jan 2015, 98 per centum of its production goes to Alaska. Alaskans are amongst the concluding to still consume hardtack equally a pregnant part of their normal diet. Originally imported as a nutrient product that could suffer the rigors of transportation throughout Alaska, hardtack has remained a favored food even as other, less robust foods have become more than readily bachelor".
Even so, Wikipedia likewise states that "Dissimilar the traditional hardtack recipe, Sailor Boy Airplane pilot Bread contains leavening and vegetable shortening." So Sailor Male child seems to be more like a cracker than a traditional hardtack. Thanks Isaac for pointing that out!

According to Wikipedia, hardtack is known as "Kanpan in Japan and Geonbbang in Republic of korea, meaning 'dry staff of life', and is still sold as a fairly popular snack nutrient in both countries… Canned kanpan is too distributed in Japan as emergency rations in case of earthquake, flood, or other disaster".
Hardtack is likewise used as part of a traditional Newfoundland (Canada) meal called Fish and Brewis. Co-ordinate to Wikipedia, "Fish and brewis (pronounced "brews") is a traditional Newfoundland meal consisting of cod and hard bread or hard tack. With the abundance of cod around the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador it became synonymous with many Newfoundland households every bit a effeminateness to exist served as a chief meal"… "The recipe may vary from community to community or fifty-fifty household to household, merely the primary ingredients are ever the aforementioned. The typical recipe calls for salt fish that is soaked in h2o overnight to reduce the common salt content of the fish, and the hard breadstuff is also soaked in h2o overnight. The side by side day, the fish and hard bread are boiled separately until tender, and and then both are served together"… "The traditional meal is served with scrunchions, salted pork fat which has been cut into small pieces and fried. Both the rendered fat and the liquid fat are so drizzled over the fish and brewis." My thanks to Brendan for pointing out this interesting Newfoundland meal!

Interesting fact – According to CNBC, in 2015, a hardtack cracker from a Titanic lifeboat "sold at auction for £15,000 ($22,990)". This hardtack cracker was "office of a survival kit that would have been found in the Titanic's lifeboats… Information technology was kept as a gift by the Fenwicks, newlyweds that were onboard the SS Carpathia that came to the rescue of Titanic survivors".
My recipes are based on United states ingredient measurements (i.east. US cups & tablespoons). Withal, as a courtesy to our European visitors, I have also included some very ROUGH European equivalents (i.e. grams & milliliters). Since I rarely apply European measurements when blistering, please let me know in the comment department below if any of the European ingredient measurements need to be changed (i.eastward. for XYZ ingredient, milliliters are more commonly used versus the grams information listed in the recipe).

Other potential survival breads (and related foods) that you might like to explore include campfire bread, frying pan bread, breads made with baking powder (no yeast), flatbreads (no yeast), tortillas (no yeast), ash cakes, Johnnycakes, wild yeast breads, unleavened breads, oatcakes, etc. These examples do non shop besides every bit hardtack. However, they are seen as potential survival breads because they are simple to brand and/or they may enable you to brand staff of life if you are missing a key ingredient (i.east. packaged yeast) or slice of equipment (i.eastward. performance oven).
Ever wear oven mitts/gloves when dealing with hot ovens, baking sheets, etc.
If you are researching survival bread, you should likewise learn how to make bones bootleg breads. Fresh bootleg bread can make a crisis (i.e. if y'all are trapped inside during a pandemic) more bearable for families. Our recipes are an easy way for you to make comfort foods such equally homemade white staff of life, pizza, cornbread, etc. Bank check out Bread Dad's sections on Breadstuff Machine Recipes and Bootleg Bread Recipes for unproblematic recipes that y'all can make at home.

If you liked this recipe, please leave a comment below & give the states a 5 star rating. It is ALWAYS great to hear from someone who has enjoyed our recipes!

Reference Sources

Wikipedia, Hardtack
Wikipedia, Breadstuff
Wikipedia, Cracker (Nutrient)
Wikipedia, Fish and Brewis
Wikipedia, Food Preservation
Wikipedia, Food Storage
Wikipedia, Vacuum Packing

Hardtack Recipe Questions

What does hardtack taste like?

Hardtack actually tastes pretty practiced considering it soaks up the season of the liquid, stew or soup that you utilize in lodge to soften the hardtack. By itself, hardtack is a basically a VERY Difficult semi-salty thick bland cracker. Even so, it is much better tasting (and softer) when combined with a flavorful semi-liquid meal (i.e. soup).

How tin can I meliorate the taste of hardtack?

Some people like to add butter or vegetable oil to their hardtack recipes. Still, these ingredients can cause the hardtack to spoil much more than speedily and shortens the hardtack shelf life significantly. I prefer to add some dried herbs such every bit black pepper, rosemary or Italian seasoning in order to heighten the season. Dried herbs can improve the gustatory modality of hardtack without having a huge impact on its long-term storage potential.

Tin I purchase hardtack?

You can buy hardtack from retailers such as Amazon. The most popular brand of hardtack is Sailor Boy Pilot Bread. However, it is much easier and cheaper to brand your own with the hardtack recipe on this page!

Does hardtack become bad?

If hardtack is made properly (i.e. without butter) and stored correctly (i.e. in an airtight container), hardtack tin can last for years. Yet, if hardtack is stored improperly (i.e. open to wet and insects) and made with less stable ingredients (i.e. butter or vegetable oil) added for softness and/or flavor, hardtack tin can spoil much more quickly.

Why is it called hardtack?

Tack was slang used by British sailors for the word "nutrient". Therefore, hardtack means "hard food".

How do you consume hardtack?

In that location are many dissimilar means to eat hardtack. For instance, yous can soften hardtack in stew or a soup and eat it like a big cracker. Or a person tin crumble the hardtack into soup in order to act as a "thickener". Another style is to soak hardtack in milk for 15 minutes and and then fry it. Or you tin can break upward the hardtack and add milk & saccharide in order to make breakfast porridge. Historically, some people even brand hardtack into a dessert past crumbling it and combining the hardtack with butter, brownish saccharide and whiskey.

Can I make hardtack without table salt?

Yep. Pioneers oft fabricated hardtack without common salt (considering salt on the frontier was besides hard to discover or as well expensive). Yet, salt has been used in hardtack for centuries. Salt acts every bit a natural preservative and helps hardtack to last longer in storage. In improver, salt improves the taste of hardtack (equally "no salt" hardtack is extremely bland).

What is hardtack made out of?

Hardtack is made out of h2o, flour and salt. However, many pioneers fabricated hardtack out of only flour and water. Table salt was too hard to discover or was too expensive for many pioneers. However, today when salt is cheap, it is meliorate to add common salt to a hardtack recipe considering common salt adds flavor and acts equally a natural preservative.

Is hardtack a complete repast?

No. Hardtack is not a consummate meal. Information technology provides little or no protein, essential vitamins, etc. Hardtack is often used to supplement other foods (i.e. meats, vegetables and fruit) and is generally used as a source of inexpensive calories.

If yous liked this recipe, please leave a comment beneath & give us a five star rating. We Beloved to hear from people who take enjoyed our recipes!!

Hardtack Recipe (Survival Bread)

This hardtack recipe is very easy to make. As you probably know, hardtack is a survival bread & historic settler nutrient with an extremely long shelf life. If properly stored, hardtack tin last for years. Hardtack has been used for centuries and was a historic mainstay for pioneers, settlers, sailors & soldiers when traveling on long journeys. Visit BreadDad.com for more great bootleg bread recipes.

Prep Time five mins

Cook Time 1 hour

Full Time 1 hr 5 mins

Course: Breakfast, Dinner, Tiffin

Cuisine: American, European

Keyword: hardtack, hardtack recipe, survival beige, survival staff of life, survival bread recipe, survival cracker

Servings: 12 Biscuits

Calories: 76 kcal

2 Cups All Purpose Flour – 240 grams – Do not use self-rising flour
3/iv Loving cup Water – 175 milliliters
1 1/ii Teaspoons Table salt – vii.5 milliliters

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Mix the flour, h2o and salt in a bowl.
After mixing completely, the dough should be a little dry out (and non stick to your fingers).
If your mix is nonetheless too glutinous, you can add more flour in pocket-size increments until the dough is dry enough.
Use a roller to spread out the dough on a counter, big cut board, etc. until it reaches a thickness of roughly i/3 to 1/2 inches.
To prevent sticking to the counter or cutting board, yous should spread a piffling flour on the surface before rolling the dough. As well spread a little flour on top of the dough to forbid the roller from sticking to the dough.
Cut the dough into squares (i.eastward. three inch squares). Yous can create square hardtack "biscuits" by cutting the dough horizontally & vertically on a large cutting board.
Poke narrow holes in the hardtack biscuits with a chopstick or fork. The holes should go all the way through to the other side of the hardtack. This prevents the hardtack from puffing up.
Place the hardtack biscuits on a baking canvas/tray.
Put the baking sheet into the oven and bake for thirty minutes. Wear oven mitts.
Flip the hardtack over with a spatula and bake for another 30 minutes. Wear oven mitts.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Clothing oven mitts. And then use a spatula to remove the hardtack from the baking sheet. Identify the hardtack biscuits on a cooling rack in gild to cool down.
When completely cooled, place the hardtack in an closed container.

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The nutritional information is provided using recipe tools such as WP Recipe Maker. These figures should merely exist considered equally an estimate. They should not be construed as a guarantee of accurateness given visitors may use different serving sizes, ingredients, etc. See our legal disclaimer for additional diet disclosures.

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