Hard breads?

[renovato]

Howdy folks,

Anyone have any favorite recipes for hardtack, authentic "crackers" or other types of dried, storable breads? How about bannock and other easy to make at camp type breads?

About the only "cracker" type recipes I've found contain fats of one kind or another and would go rancid pretty easy. I've tried unsuccessfully to make something similar to saltines.

Thanks

 

[Riley/MN]

I will admit to not having tried this yet, but I grabbed it off another website (so you are on your own with the sea salt thing):

Hardtack

3 cups milk (I use raw when I can get it, or buttermilk)
2 tablespoons of sugar (raw brown sugar is my preference)
1 tablespoon of salt (sea salt distilled on the breasts of young Polynesian virgins, if available :grin
8 cups of flour (5 cups whole wheat flour, 3 cups unbleached, is my favorite mix)
4 tablespoons of shortening

Mix ingredients together and roll out 1/4" thick. Cut into squares 3" x 3", punch holes with a wooden spoon handle (like a soda cracker). Bake at 400 dg. for 35 minutes, to taste.

More moisture left in it, more edible...less moisture”¦ longer lasting.
Store in a cloth sack to avoid mold, etc...

 

[renovato]

It looks like getting that particular sea salt might be a problem. I guess I'll hafta make due with what I have.

 

[snagg]

Hi Plink:

This might be worth a try for you. It takes 3 ingredients and is simple to make. We've used this on many of our extended canoe camping trips over the years.

Self-rising flour
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp. oil

Start with a little pile of the flour and begin adding the oil and water. Continue adding flour and liquids until you get a dough the consistency of pizza dough. Pat the dough ball down to about 1/2 inch thick. Add the dough onto a medium hot frying pan with a bit of oil in the bottom. Cook this first side until brown, then flip onto other side until brown. Remove from pan. Don't cook it to fast or center won't quite get done. Better to cook slower than to fast.
A topping of cane syrup and a cup of coffee to sip. Doesn't get much better.

snagg

 

[renovato]

Thanks! I'm gonna give both of those recipes a try.

 

[Gary]

Basically it was flour, water & salt. I don't think lard was added as it had to keep for a very long time. BTW, Bent's Biscuit Factory still makes hardtack. I'll pass on it though.

 

[skunkskinner]

2 cups flour
3/4 cups water
1 tbls crisco "lard if possible"
1 tsp salt
1 tbls sugar "or not"

mix ingredients, nead several times
flour cookie sheet
spread dough 1/2" thick
punch holes, cut into squares

bake at 350 for 45 minutes
shut oven off
flip hard tack over
put it back in oven and leave it over night
when it is bone dry put it in a zip lock bag
it will last for years as long as it stays dry

 

[renovato]

A google search turned up a goldmine of hardtack recipes, but I still haven't found a decent cracker recipe that doesn't call for fats. Here's a link with several nice recipes in it. I've tried the plain hardtack and the "sailor's diet" recipes so far. This is fun! :grin:

 

[deforge1]

Hardtack

3 cups milk (I use raw when I can get it, or buttermilk)
2 tablespoons of sugar (raw brown sugar is my preference)
1 tablespoon of salt (sea salt distilled on the breasts of young Polynesian virgins, if available :grin
8 cups of flour (5 cups whole wheat flour, 3 cups unbleached, is my favorite mix)
4 tablespoons of shortening

Mix ingredients together and roll out 1/4" thick. Cut into squares 3" x 3", punch holes with a wooden spoon handle (like a soda cracker). Bake at 400 dg. for 35 minutes, to taste.

More moisture left in it, more edible...less moisture”¦ longer lasting.
Store in a cloth sack to avoid mold, etc...

[/quote]


I have used this recipie for several years. It came from Randy Bublitz. IIRC, it was a passed down recipie in his family and was used by his kin in the Indian Wars and before. This stuff is good and gets more "bricklike" with time. I tend to reverse the flour ratios, using more wheat than white (personal pref.)

 

[blacksmithshoppe]

Hardtack


1 tablespoon of salt (sea salt distilled on the breasts of young Polynesian virgins, if available :grin
Dennis:
I'm sorry but anything I can of to reply would get me kicked off the forum
Jeff :rotf:

 

[renovato]

Dangit, my link didn't show up. I'll try again

Link

 

[BadHeart]

How long does this last? What do you store it in?

Thanks

 

[renovato]

It lasts a long time if you can keep it dry and free from bugs. Weevils was a big problem back then. Sailors kept theirs in barrels. I would guess the mountain men kept theirs wrapped in cloth or possibly in tins of some type. Me, I cheat and use a ziplock baggy for short term, and one of those giant metal popcorn tins for long term. During the Civil War, I think it was shipped to the soldiers in wooden crates. I don't know how they were sealed or if they were.

 

[spitfire]

Just remember "to pick the lesser of two weevils"! :rotf:

 

[spitfire]

Sailors kept theirs in barrels.

And as late as the 1970's.My older brother was Electronic Tech aboard the missle cruiser the Jophseus Daniels.The Med cruise mission to observe the soviets first aircraft carrier the Kiev as it came out of the Black sea.
One morning a fellow sailor observed no one else was eating the nut muffins for breakfest.They were so tasty he was eating his third helping yummy.He was curious what the little "nut" bits were.Imagine the reaction when fellow seaman informed him weevils! :rotf: True story-the flour was infested :shocked2: !Well the Great Peanut was Prez...go figure. :winking:

 

[renovato]

I had a similar experiance years back. I used to love those Kavli flat cracker things. Been so long that I barely remember them. I had a pack laying around and started munching, noticing at a glance what looked like whole wheat berries. Not paying attention, I had eaten a few before I inspected the "wheat berries" closer. UGH!

 

[spitfire]

When I was a young lad my mother would read me the Dr.Seuss classic "Green Eggs & Ham".She would read the passage"green eggs and ham" with the added remark for your father has eaten green eggs and green ham-ask him(20 year USN retired) :rotf: !

 

[JohnS]

My dad was on a destroyer during WWII and they regularly had weevils. One guy complained to the ship's doctor about them in the oatmeal. He was asked if they were cooked. When he said yes, the doctor told him not to complain as it was extra protein in his diet. I think there was a time when folks were less picky.