Can confirm, they work. Made them some time ago according to this recipe. Year later tried to brake one against the table. Hard tack was fine, table - not so much. :(
The broken or "pinched in" bubbles you will see on photos of the original hardtack biscuits are indeed from gas bubbles inside the dough layers. This happened when the biscuits were cooled too quickly. But the demand for Hardtack was such that production time had to be cut as much as possible. This overly rapid cooling (and placement in wooden casks or cases) also permitted insect infestation (weevils) which when skimmed off after floating the biscuits in coffee "Left no discernable flavour."
Flour in 1860 was not whole/all wheat. It had other fillers like barley. (The practice is continued to this day with certain flours to achieve different baking effects). Hard Tack came from several different manufacturers. One of the ones that I have recently read about is Johnathan Pierce of St. Louis, Missouri. He made enough money to launch several other businesses, but if you Google "Cracker Castle," you can see how lucrative it was for being a Miller, or Baker at the outset of the Civil War. You created a very nice civilian friendly hard tack in your video. However, since the demand for flour and hard tack was an immediate need at the outset of war, it is highly likely that the flour that was used in the 1860s necessitated the addition of other fillers that were more common in early Victorian times. Additions like chalk, sawdust, lime... may have been added just to meet production needs. Insects, insect eggs, mouse, and rat poop, were a pretty common involuntary ingredient in hard tack. One of the other differences between contemporary A/P flour with that of the 1860s was that technology wasn't as advanced with the stone grinding process, so flour particles were actually much larger. This attributed to a much harder more dense texture Most hard tack had to be soaked in hot coffee or coffee substitute to be palatable, where "critters" would wiggle out of it.
I met a lady on FB that once we got to talking about the Civil War, sent me a copy of a letter passed down in her Family from a relative in the Civil War, he wrote his wife saying that he liked the Fried Hardtack biscuits they ate, he went on to say some would dip them in coffee and eat them other ways, but most like him fried them in bacon fat, which in my research found that most well supplied units had plenty of bacon, therefore plenty of bacon fat. so I tried it out myself, and it's definitely the best way to eat tack, fry it a little and the outside is still a bit hard but more crispy and the inside mostly softer a lot more so. I also began adding oregano which adds a lot of flavor but does not affect longevity.
If I wanted to source some of the wheat flour with filler that you talked about, what should I look for? Does it have a name where I could buy some online or at the supermarket, or should I blend flours together?
I have a copy of a letter from a Civil War solider at Gettysburg that he sent to his Wife & passed down in his Family, he had mentioned what they were eating, Potatoes, onions, beans, salt pork bacon & the hard tack, he said they would fry it in bacon grease which they had & that it would make the outside crispy & the inside soft & also soften the crispy outside, I am long time cook for a Civil ware re-enactment group & I always provide a little grease to the Soldiers in my unit for this purpose or do it myself when serving them. He said after most learned this method of cooking them they all began doing it.
You can leave them in the oven to cool slowly as the oven cools. Folks also used to bake them 2 and sometimes 3 times after cooling to make sure they were completely dry. This added considerably to the shelf life. Great video.
@@citylotgardening6171 lower temp. I would keep an eye on them to be sure they don't start browning. As long as they don't start to turn brown you can rebake as many times as you like. After they cool you can vacuum seal them and they will keep indefinitely. I saw a video with Andrew Zimmern where he shared a piece of hard tack that had been passed down through his family from the Civil War. Still perfectly edible.
Steve1989 is a fucking Boss. Watching him smoke a cigarette from the Korean War might have been one the funniest things I've ever seen. " Part of me wants to keep this cigarette butt, wait that's silly I'm not going to keep it". Stares at the ground for a second, " Yeah I'm definitely keeping this..." - Steve1989
An excellent presentation. I have delivered a presentation, in French, on the rations of the French Army at the time of Napoleon, including how to make hardtack. I have about 50 pounds stored in the garage - used King Arthur flour, French sea salt. Use a mixer like you and a gas oven.
Looks like great formula. Will try it this week as need to give a living history talk. I take heart in the serious work placed into this video. Great Job!
Very interesting. For the "blisters" on top of your hardtack, you might try beating the dough with a mallet. There is an old recipe called "Beaten Biscuits" that might help you achieve this. If you built up your gluten, and don't add too much flour, you can beat the dough until it blisters.
Thank you very much. I do make hardtack. Your explanation was fine - hitting upon everything that I had observed in making hardtack. If people follow your suggestions, the learning curve will be easier. Someone asked about flour. Yes, I do bake bread and it is not unusual for me to buy 20 pounds at a time. King Arthur makes the best flour on the market. I hand date the acquisition time and review the expiration dates about once a month. If flour (whole wheat, bread flour, enriched only) is coming up for expiration, it goes into hard tack. I like the idea of the cutter and ordered one. My product is put in plastic bags inside clean clear plastic Snapware large storage containers and put in a cool dark part of the garage along with the homemade wine.
I've watched many different videos on making hard tack/ships biscuit and let me just say that your method 6cooking seems to produce the most period authentic hard tack. This is a recipe that I will definitely use.
Nice! I saved your video for future reference as I intend to try my first batch in the next week or so (already bought the flour). One enjoyably takeaway from watching your video was that the slower cooking time is more than adequate to get out the clippers and buzz my hair neat (which I may do)! 🤣 THANKS AGAIN! They look great!
My direct ancestor was in the Cavalry in the Civil War also. We use to make this dough to make Christmas ornaments in the 3rd grade. They had to soften it somehow because this would break your teeth.
Proportions depend on humidity. In New Mexico the flour has a lower water content, so it requires a little more water. In the end it all gets baked away.
Just made my First batch, but I flavored mine, after much research i concluded that as long as you use already dried spices it doesnt effect shelf life, so mine was made with Garlic Powder, Salt and Pepper. I wasnt however going for period authentic. I also used a combo of Red Winter Wheat Flour and Oat Flour along with a bit of all purpose flour. Got them in the oven now, but I am only going to bake them at 250 for 2 hours then I am going to move them to my Food dehydrator at Max temp of 151 over night. Hopefully it works out well.
Lol, tasty, depends how you eat it, but useful for preps, in the old days the soldiers, would dip in a soup or field stew, when they could have a fire, and bag a rabbit or squirrel, lol
Good videos! I am the a disabled veteran of a more recent war. The local reenactors wouldn't let me play, + arthritis, etc. keeps me from reenacting. Enjoy your videos though. I, BTW am a descendant of Big Andy Boggs, master armourer of the Army of Northern Virginia.
Still have some in my haversack thats at least 15-18 years old. I tried a piece the other day and aside from tasting a bit like the haversack itself its still edible.
I don't care what anyone says. A nice salty hardtack tastes like a pretzel to me. Boil it up and then fry it in bacon grease and it's pretty legit. Crumble it up into stew or dip in broth.
I'm watching this video while cooking my first batch ever. A shame I didn't get to your video before putting them in. Luckily I think I dropped the temperature and staggered the pans in time, but the first batch is still probably going to be way too thick. Oh well, if I like them enough to do a second batch, I'll do it more your way.
I heard they would cook hard tack with bacon grease. Try that. It actually sounds ok if it was soft enough. I bet anything was great when you're hungry.
Love your attention to detail. Great Video. By any chance has anyone done a video that shows how to properly prepare the hard tack for consumption? Seen dozens of videos but looks like everyone of them the person says, maybe I needed to cook it longer or maybe I should have soaked it longer, and looked like they were going to break their teeth when biting down on the hard tack. I would like to see someone show exactly how long to soak, or boil, and then take the hard tack out, as a whole and bend it to show that it is no longer going to break your teeth when you bit down on it. Peace, Reese
Reese, Thanks for watching! Unfortunately, there is not a single formula that one could give you. Our unit eats the hard tack as is. It WILL break your teeth if you're not careful as one of our troopers did this year during our Sprill Drill. But there is a reason soldiers 150 years ago called them "Tooth Breakers". We have cooked them and soaked them every way that is documented in diaries and the ever invaluable book called "Hardtack & Coffee". No matter how long you soak them, it never seems to penetrate the bread fully. We have to remember that the goal of the bread was storage and longevity, not so much the comfort of the soldier. We personally have learned to eat the hard bread by holding it in our hand and breaking it over our knee into about 10 different pieces in which we chew on for the day. This past campaign we went on we lived off of hardtack and raw white rice for about a week. While it was miserable, there are definitely some calories packed in that hard bread. One way you can get around this issue is to make it thinner and bake is shorter. But from our experience just sitting out in the dry air makes them turn hard quickly anyway. In short.....we eat them as is with no prep, just break them into small pieces and work them in your mouth one at a time.
Soak till its soft. In soup or coffee. Or desert like strawberries and cream. Learn to make pocket soup and pimmington and the hardtack. Just add to boiled water and have a nice hardy soup. 🍞🍗😊
And they say that girls are the ones who like to bake, dress up and play pretend! Haha, no harm meant. Thank you for these videos, I've been trying to research and find cavalry tack for my dad to use on trail rides (since he's in the military he's obsessed with this kinda stuff). :)
I won't be buying most of the tack, such as the saddle because we have stocky quarter horses, but where do you find the breastplate with the brass heart concho?
Ok couple of thoughts make that several thoughts ... first i'd weigh my flour and water to achieve a 2 to 1 ratio or 50% hydration .... so for instance 500 grams flour to 250 grams water. Granted back in the day they did not have digital scales but they did have scales... second i'd work in batches mix/kneed up your first batch of dough and let rest on the counter for 15 min , or enough time to mix the second batch this relaxes the first batch and makes the dense dough easier to work with. pull the second batch out to rest and start your third batch. Take the first batch and roll it out and then letter fold it into thirds a couple times then roll it out back and forth making 1/4 turns to keep in a circular or square shape and don't use too much flour then cut, repeat for the following batches preheat the oven to 450, once you get your tak on sheet pans and oven is preheated spray, yes spray your tak with a misting of water, this will make the bubbles on the surface bake 10-15 min and turn down the temp to 200 ish and bake for a couple hours ... once done and not browned let them cool on a rack to room temp and then bake a second time at 200 or your ovens lowest setting till they are as dry as you want them ... from what I understand hardtak was cooked twice once to cook them and the second time to dry them. This would make since because brick ovens are traditionally heated once in the morning to a high temp in order to cook bread then as they cool they are used to cook items that can cook at lower temps. In my opinion it would make since to then at the end of the day put the hardtak back in to further dry the tooth buster so it keeps longer.
Why 50%??? It would be a soup not a dough. Oh wait I get it. 25% ratio. That's what he did though only by _volume._ Usually though, you want like 5 cups of flour to 1.5 cups of water. At least that is my bread recipe. Makes a nice dough.Home kitchen aids are worthless for making bread though. You are far better off with a cheap bread maker or doing it by hand. A bread maker is geared properly to handle the thick dough and most of a dough setting. You can just fire and forget on those. I agree on the rest though...you could even put them into a dehydrator for the second run, or in your car on a hot day. I have seen people use the "car method" as a cost free & supervision free dehydrator lol.
My guess is that the small air bubbles is because the original hardtack was probably left out for a while before baking while the hotter oven was used for other foods before being ready for the hardtack and the wild yeast in the air of the baking room got into the mix.
A lot of these tiles made it through the whole 20th century. Imagine that! The Titanic, the roaring 20's, the nazis, the sovjet union, the cold war, Frank Sinatra, even the fricking Backstreetboys, all Mad Max movies, f.r.i.e.n.d.s., all of Oprah, David Bowie... Outlived by food that looks like it did on day one.
I'm almost positive that the crispy bubbly look of the original hardtack is from oil / lard. I believe "Maybe" a small amount of baking soda as well. But I'm sure about the oil. From the looks of it I'd say it was coated with a fair amount of it in order to create that kind of texture.
Would adding some sweetner like honey or cinnimon to this cause problems? I get the authenticity part but would that cause them to become more brittle or what? This is the first video I have seen on the subject so I have no idea about it.
Robert, sorry for the slow reply but i have not tried any additional ingredients due to our need purely for authenticity purposes. Since we don't use this recipe outside of reenactments or historical interpretation, we have no need to add in-authentic ingredients. Let us know how it turns out!
Stainspecialist, Unfortunately, that is outside the scope of our historical page. I am sure you can add a variety of other seasonings and flavors but since our goal is to create 1860's hardtack as accurately as possible, adding anything else would be outside our primary mission. Thanks for watching!
keep your machine running and turn the bowl.t his will keep it from getting to thick , to quick. go slow for better control and you won't burn up your machine.
This one we got from "Fall Creek Sutler" but there are others you can get, just search for Hardtack cutter. LIke: C. Haynes and Company on Facebook. But be sure that they have it in stock before you order it.
For higher protein hard tack Water- Start with a cup (you might need alittle more) Salt- 2 teaspoons Whole wheat flour- 3 cups Amarantn- a quarter cup Whole grain Quinoa - Half a cup Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees Put flour on your board & roll out to half an inch thickness. Cut into 2 or 3 inch squares. Poke the squares with holes on both sides. Put some flour on the cookie sheet- put your squares on the cookie sheet. Put them in the oven at 375 degrees & cook for 30 mins. -then take them out -turn them over & cook for 30 mins. And you are done. ( The whole wheat flour is 110 Cal. Amarant is 190 Cal. Whole grain Quinoa is 180 Cal.) Enjoy!
No idea, we don't have a convection oven so you will have to play around with the temps and times. Just keep in mind you want to bake it really slow. Sorry for not being much help there!
It is the "Artisan" model. I create a "poo-ton" of hardtack (more than 1,000 pieces per year) and would recommend getting a higher grade. I have burned out the motor in this model more than once.
Lin-Lee, We have never tried it using pre packed shortcrust. Since it is a pastry, my bet is it will be too flaky and not hold up too long in a haversack.
11th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry thankyou for replying. ..I would of used all my pre packed if you hadn't replied...what flour could I use....as I don't think I could easily lay my hands on wheat flour in the uk :$ thankyou ...and it's 2 thumbs up from me Lin-Lee. ..I.m subbed :) ,,,,! !,,,,
Can confirm, they work. Made them some time ago according to this recipe. Year later tried to brake one against the table. Hard tack was fine, table - not so much. :(
That's funny
my son made me make this, so happy I found this, my son joma watches your chanel all the time and say yall are his heros!!!
The broken or "pinched in" bubbles you will see on photos of the original hardtack biscuits are indeed from gas bubbles inside the dough layers. This happened when the biscuits were cooled too quickly. But the demand for Hardtack was such that production time had to be cut as much as possible. This overly rapid cooling (and placement in wooden casks or cases) also permitted insect infestation (weevils) which when skimmed off after floating the biscuits in coffee "Left no discernable flavour."
Thanks Roci Stone!
Flour in 1860 was not whole/all wheat. It had other fillers like barley. (The practice is continued to this day with certain flours to achieve different baking effects). Hard Tack came from several different manufacturers. One of the ones that I have recently read about is Johnathan Pierce of St. Louis, Missouri. He made enough money to launch several other businesses, but if you Google "Cracker Castle," you can see how lucrative it was for being a Miller, or Baker at the outset of the Civil War.
You created a very nice civilian friendly hard tack in your video.
However, since the demand for flour and hard tack was an immediate need at the outset of war, it is highly likely that the flour that was used in the 1860s necessitated the addition of other fillers that were more common in early Victorian times. Additions like chalk, sawdust, lime... may have been added just to meet production needs. Insects, insect eggs, mouse, and rat poop, were a pretty common involuntary ingredient in hard tack. One of the other differences between contemporary A/P flour with that of the 1860s was that technology wasn't as advanced with the stone grinding process, so flour particles were actually much larger. This attributed to a much harder more dense texture Most hard tack had to be soaked in hot coffee or coffee substitute to be palatable, where "critters" would wiggle out of it.
I met a lady on FB that once we got to talking about the Civil War, sent me a copy of a letter passed down in her Family from a relative in the Civil War, he wrote his wife saying that he liked the Fried Hardtack biscuits they ate, he went on to say some would dip them in coffee and eat them other ways, but most like him fried them in bacon fat, which in my research found that most well supplied units had plenty of bacon, therefore plenty of bacon fat. so I tried it out myself, and it's definitely the best way to eat tack, fry it a little and the outside is still a bit hard but more crispy and the inside mostly softer a lot more so. I also began adding oregano which adds a lot of flavor but does not affect longevity.
If I wanted to source some of the wheat flour with filler that you talked about, what should I look for? Does it have a name where I could buy some online or at the supermarket, or should I blend flours together?
I have a copy of a letter from a Civil War solider at Gettysburg that he sent to his Wife & passed down in his Family, he had mentioned what they were eating, Potatoes, onions, beans, salt pork bacon & the hard tack, he said they would fry it in bacon grease which they had & that it would make the outside crispy & the inside soft & also soften the crispy outside, I am long time cook for a Civil ware re-enactment group & I always provide a little grease to the Soldiers in my unit for this purpose or do it myself when serving them. He said after most learned this method of cooking them they all began doing it.
mmmhmmm bonus protien
Yes there are tons of hard tack videos on youtube, but this one is the best by far! Thank you.
I like how you chose to get a haircut during the 4 hours. lol
Raul Cabrera beat me to it... by 3 years...
@@ScotchIrishHoundsman Me by 3 weeks.
Beat me to it by 5 months....
You can leave them in the oven to cool slowly as the oven cools.
Folks also used to bake them 2 and sometimes 3 times after cooling to make sure they were completely dry. This added considerably to the shelf life.
Great video.
Would they rebake them for the same temp and time
@@citylotgardening6171 lower temp. I would keep an eye on them to be sure they don't start browning. As long as they don't start to turn brown you can rebake as many times as you like. After they cool you can vacuum seal them and they will keep indefinitely.
I saw a video with Andrew Zimmern where he shared a piece of hard tack that had been passed down through his family from the Civil War. Still perfectly edible.
Steve1989 ate one from 1863
nice.
Steve1989 is a fucking Boss. Watching him smoke a cigarette from the Korean War might have been one the funniest things I've ever seen. " Part of me wants to keep this cigarette butt, wait that's silly I'm not going to keep it". Stares at the ground for a second, " Yeah I'm definitely keeping this..." - Steve1989
@@TheHikingLion steve's 1899 Boers' war ration was my favorite video hahaha
Smells a bit like cardboard, with a hint of mothballs, but that cival war tack really excited Steve, he said so rare had to eat it up WTF Steve? 😜.
An excellent presentation. I have delivered a presentation, in French, on the rations of the French Army at the time of Napoleon, including how to make hardtack. I have about 50 pounds stored in the garage - used King Arthur flour, French sea salt. Use a mixer like you and a gas oven.
Looks like great formula. Will try it this week as need to give a living history talk. I take heart in the serious work placed into this video. Great Job!
OMG....I've been looking for this recipe for ages! Thanks so much and great explaining.
Very interesting. For the "blisters" on top of your hardtack, you might try beating the dough with a mallet. There is an old recipe called "Beaten Biscuits" that might help you achieve this. If you built up your gluten, and don't add too much flour, you can beat the dough until it blisters.
Thanks for the video, great attention to detail. Best hardtack vid I've seen.
Thank you very much. I do make hardtack. Your explanation was fine - hitting upon everything that I had observed in making hardtack. If people follow your suggestions, the learning curve will be easier. Someone asked about flour. Yes, I do bake bread and it is not unusual for me to buy 20 pounds at a time. King Arthur makes the best flour on the market. I hand date the acquisition time and review the expiration dates about once a month. If flour (whole wheat, bread flour, enriched only) is coming up for expiration, it goes into hard tack. I like the idea of the cutter and ordered one. My product is put in plastic bags inside clean clear plastic Snapware large storage containers and put in a cool dark part of the garage along with the homemade wine.
Made my first four hardtack biscuits last night, using your recipe. Thanks!
Glad it came in useful! Thanks for watching!
Great video man. im about to try this myself just to have some food for long term prepping.
Wow that hardtack turned out gorgeous. Looks delicious.
"That hardtack is delicious" said No One ever! hahaha... wait a minute...
Learned some new tricks. 👍 Thank you sir!
looks like you got a haircut over the oven wait period lol
i saw it too wth
That helps explain why my hardtack were still doughy on the inside. Thanks for that info
The information was so interesting and delivered so well I subscribed. Great video!
Thanks for Watching! Glad you enjoyed it.
I have made Hardtack before, but this is a much better way. I will have to try it now. Thanks for the great video.
Excellent video and thanks for the tips! Might obliged!
I've watched many different videos on making hard tack/ships biscuit and let me just say that your method 6cooking seems to produce the most period authentic hard tack. This is a recipe that I will definitely use.
I have a Fall Creek hardtack cutter. I like it.
Nice! I saved your video for future reference as I intend to try my first batch in the next week or so (already bought the flour). One enjoyably takeaway from watching your video was that the slower cooking time is more than adequate to get out the clippers and buzz my hair neat (which I may do)! 🤣 THANKS AGAIN! They look great!
making some via your recipe for Hale farm next week. thanks for the video. I'm with the 30th OVI
My direct ancestor was in the Cavalry in the Civil War also. We use to make this dough to make Christmas ornaments in the 3rd grade. They had to soften it somehow because this would break your teeth.
I made some hard tack yesterday, having some with my coffee this morning......
Great video. Thank you.
Proportions depend on humidity. In New Mexico the flour has a lower water content, so it requires a little more water. In the end it all gets baked away.
Just made my First batch, but I flavored mine, after much research i concluded that as long as you use already dried spices it doesnt effect shelf life, so mine was made with Garlic Powder, Salt and Pepper. I wasnt however going for period authentic. I also used a combo of Red Winter Wheat Flour and Oat Flour along with a bit of all purpose flour. Got them in the oven now, but I am only going to bake them at 250 for 2 hours then I am going to move them to my Food dehydrator at Max temp of 151 over night. Hopefully it works out well.
Those seriously look delicious!
Lol, tasty, depends how you eat it, but useful for preps, in the old days the soldiers, would dip in a soup or field stew, when they could have a fire, and bag a rabbit or squirrel, lol
Got a haircut while waiting for his hardtack to bake lol, awesome.
What else is there to do while its cooking!
Lol. That was Hella funny
And with a little bit of Shoe-polish they make great fire starters when it's wet.
Awesome video thank you :)
Good videos! I am the a disabled veteran of a more recent war. The local reenactors wouldn't let me play, + arthritis, etc. keeps me from reenacting. Enjoy your videos though. I, BTW am a descendant of Big Andy Boggs, master armourer of the Army of Northern Virginia.
Great vid, thanks
Looks good
It may help to use the paddle in the beginning to incorporate then switch to the dough hook.
Appreciate the video!
Pretty cool
I have a similar cutter and didn't know how to keep it from sticking inside. Now I do! Thanks for the video!
Thanks for watching!
Still have some in my haversack thats at least 15-18 years old. I tried a piece the other day and aside from tasting a bit like the haversack itself its still edible.
Thanks!
I don't care what anyone says. A nice salty hardtack tastes like a pretzel to me. Boil it up and then fry it in bacon grease and it's pretty legit. Crumble it up into stew or dip in broth.
I make it same way, with same cutter. On occasion I add some dry dill and dry minced onion for a touch of flavor. Farby, I know.
cool vid.
I'm watching this video while cooking my first batch ever. A shame I didn't get to your video before putting them in. Luckily I think I dropped the temperature and staggered the pans in time, but the first batch is still probably going to be way too thick. Oh well, if I like them enough to do a second batch, I'll do it more your way.
Cool vid
Thanks
I heard they would cook hard tack with bacon grease. Try that. It actually sounds ok if it was soft enough. I bet anything was great when you're hungry.
Mike, we have cooked hard tack in bacon grease. Generally, it doesn't penetrate the hardtack. It does add good flavor.
Love your attention to detail. Great Video. By any chance has anyone done a video that shows how to properly prepare the hard tack for consumption? Seen dozens of videos but looks like everyone of them the person says, maybe I needed to cook it longer or maybe I should have soaked it longer, and looked like they were going to break their teeth when biting down on the hard tack. I would like to see someone show exactly how long to soak, or boil, and then take the hard tack out, as a whole and bend it to show that it is no longer going to break your teeth when you bit down on it. Peace, Reese
Reese,
Thanks for watching! Unfortunately, there is not a single formula that one could give you. Our unit eats the hard tack as is. It WILL break your teeth if you're not careful as one of our troopers did this year during our Sprill Drill. But there is a reason soldiers 150 years ago called them "Tooth Breakers". We have cooked them and soaked them every way that is documented in diaries and the ever invaluable book called "Hardtack & Coffee". No matter how long you soak them, it never seems to penetrate the bread fully. We have to remember that the goal of the bread was storage and longevity, not so much the comfort of the soldier. We personally have learned to eat the hard bread by holding it in our hand and breaking it over our knee into about 10 different pieces in which we chew on for the day. This past campaign we went on we lived off of hardtack and raw white rice for about a week. While it was miserable, there are definitely some calories packed in that hard bread.
One way you can get around this issue is to make it thinner and bake is shorter. But from our experience just sitting out in the dry air makes them turn hard quickly anyway.
In short.....we eat them as is with no prep, just break them into small pieces and work them in your mouth one at a time.
Soak till its soft. In soup or coffee. Or desert like strawberries and cream. Learn to make pocket soup and pimmington and the hardtack. Just add to boiled water and have a nice hardy soup. 🍞🍗😊
And they say that girls are the ones who like to bake, dress up and play pretend! Haha, no harm meant. Thank you for these videos, I've been trying to research and find cavalry tack for my dad to use on trail rides (since he's in the military he's obsessed with this kinda stuff). :)
I won't be buying most of the tack, such as the saddle because we have stocky quarter horses, but where do you find the breastplate with the brass heart concho?
Even the weevils break their teeth
Ok couple of thoughts make that several thoughts ... first i'd weigh my flour and water to achieve a 2 to 1 ratio or 50% hydration .... so for instance 500 grams flour to 250 grams water. Granted back in the day they did not have digital scales but they did have scales...
second i'd work in batches mix/kneed up your first batch of dough and let rest on the counter for 15 min , or enough time to mix the second batch this relaxes the first batch and makes the dense dough easier to work with. pull the second batch out to rest and start your third batch. Take the first batch and roll it out and then letter fold it into thirds a couple times then roll it out back and forth making 1/4 turns to keep in a circular or square shape and don't use too much flour then cut, repeat for the following batches preheat the oven to 450, once you get your tak on sheet pans and oven is preheated spray, yes spray your tak with a misting of water, this will make the bubbles on the surface bake 10-15 min and turn down the temp to 200 ish and bake for a couple hours ... once done and not browned let them cool on a rack to room temp and then bake a second time at 200 or your ovens lowest setting till they are as dry as you want them ... from what I understand hardtak was cooked twice once to cook them and the second time to dry them. This would make since because brick ovens are traditionally heated once in the morning to a high temp in order to cook bread then as they cool they are used to cook items that can cook at lower temps. In my opinion it would make since to then at the end of the day put the hardtak back in to further dry the tooth buster so it keeps longer.
Why 50%??? It would be a soup not a dough. Oh wait I get it. 25% ratio. That's what he did though only by _volume._ Usually though, you want like 5 cups of flour to 1.5 cups of water. At least that is my bread recipe. Makes a nice dough.Home kitchen aids are worthless for making bread though. You are far better off with a cheap bread maker or doing it by hand. A bread maker is geared properly to handle the thick dough and most of a dough setting. You can just fire and forget on those. I agree on the rest though...you could even put them into a dehydrator for the second run, or in your car on a hot day. I have seen people use the "car method" as a cost free & supervision free dehydrator lol.
I like the square cutter.... where do you get such a thing? I use a can but they come out round....
Add a bowl of water to create some steam, upon more research steam was used by most old factories in the day to make it.
Anson mills in Columbia South Carolina has the correct period flour to make the hardtack. That's what I'm using to make my first batch.
“How to make it more authentic” -standing next to modern baking equipment
LOL
If you rebake them for longer storage would you use the same temp and time
My guess is that the small air bubbles is because the original hardtack was probably left out for a while before baking while the hotter oven was used for other foods before being ready for the hardtack and the wild yeast in the air of the baking room got into the mix.
Thanx man. Someone else said it already. Best video.
My grandpa talked about eating hard tack in ww1 that was from the civil war
A lot of these tiles made it through the whole 20th century. Imagine that! The Titanic, the roaring 20's, the nazis, the sovjet union, the cold war, Frank Sinatra, even the fricking Backstreetboys, all Mad Max movies, f.r.i.e.n.d.s., all of Oprah, David Bowie... Outlived by food that looks like it did on day one.
Smart man, using the back side of the butter knife not to ruin the granite counter top.
Hello did you flip the Hardtack over in the oven at the 2 hour mark?
Since canning jars are so hard to find....can these be stored in food saver bags vacuume sealed?
What kind of flour did you use?
Did you flip the hardtack at the 2 hour mark? Would that help the baking process?
We all start somewhere
Hey did you get the hardtack cutter?
ah crap, I thought u
said two cups water. guess I'll be cooking my batch skittle longer
I'm almost positive that the crispy bubbly look of the original hardtack is from oil / lard. I believe "Maybe" a small amount of baking soda as well. But I'm sure about the oil. From the looks of it I'd say it was coated with a fair amount of it in order to create that kind of texture.
DenverLoveless, that is a great idea! We will have to try that next time! We still have a few thousand pieces to get through so it might be a while!
DenverLoveless
DenverLoveless
anthonygoode37 ??
TheOkWoodsman i
U said u make 1000s of them...what do u use them 4..?
Is it just a way 2 preserve flour...?
Hi, from where I can order such cutting tool?? Looks so practical
Sir, what model Kitchenaid mixer is that? I’m looking for one to get but don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for the commercial grade mixer. Thanks!!
Also can u link me where u got that cutter?
Note just spread a little bit of flour the more you put flour the harder it gets it should be sticky a little
My batch came out with a crystalline, glass-like interior crumb, is this normal?
Holy shit you're like the America's Test Kitchen of hardtack
Hello my friend. Where can I purchase the cutter you are using? Great Video!!!
would the cavalry have shared their hardtack with their mount? and if so how did the poor horses fare afterwards?
7th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment here
Would adding some sweetner like honey or cinnimon to this cause problems? I get the authenticity part but would that cause them to become more brittle or what? This is the first video I have seen on the subject so I have no idea about it.
Robert, sorry for the slow reply but i have not tried any additional ingredients due to our need purely for authenticity purposes. Since we don't use this recipe outside of reenactments or historical interpretation, we have no need to add in-authentic ingredients. Let us know how it turns out!
Is it possible to put garlic powder in the recipe for flavor? Or would that make it more likely to spoil somehow?
Stainspecialist,
Unfortunately, that is outside the scope of our historical page. I am sure you can add a variety of other seasonings and flavors but since our goal is to create 1860's hardtack as accurately as possible, adding anything else would be outside our primary mission. Thanks for watching!
Where did you get the cutter from?
keep your machine running and turn the bowl.t his will keep it from getting to thick , to quick. go slow for better control and you won't burn up your machine.
I found a source for “Hard Tack Cutters” “Dixie Tin Works”
Funny when u tryed before watching this video I made my hard tacks puffed up
What kind of flour do you use?
I mean where did you buy the square cutter? I would like to get one. Thank you.
This one we got from "Fall Creek Sutler" but there are others you can get, just search for Hardtack cutter. LIke: C. Haynes and Company on Facebook. But be sure that they have it in stock before you order it.
@@11thovc Do you know the website of Fall Creek Sutler? I like that one.
are you using AP flour? the bubble look to the other MAY be because cake flour was used. Cake flour will rise a bit....
hatsheput63, thanks for that insight, we will try that in our next batch! Thanks for watching.
Mix flour, and water, put it in the oven. TADA! THATS THE OREGON TRAIL WAY! :D (well... not the oven part0
For higher protein hard tack
Water- Start with a cup (you might need alittle more)
Salt- 2 teaspoons
Whole wheat flour- 3 cups
Amarantn- a quarter cup
Whole grain Quinoa - Half a cup
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees
Put flour on your board & roll out to half an inch thickness. Cut into 2 or 3 inch squares. Poke the squares with holes on both sides.
Put some flour on the cookie sheet- put your squares on the cookie sheet. Put them in the oven at 375 degrees & cook for 30 mins. -then take them out -turn them over & cook for 30 mins. And you are done.
( The whole wheat flour is 110 Cal. Amarant is 190 Cal.
Whole grain Quinoa is 180 Cal.)
Enjoy!
Can it be made from wheat flower
Fry it in Bacon grease, add some oregano won't affect longevity
My be a stupid question but if you use a convection oven is it still 250 degrees?
No idea, we don't have a convection oven so you will have to play around with the temps and times. Just keep in mind you want to bake it really slow. Sorry for not being much help there!
Your video was a bunch of help! I ended up just using the reg oven at 250 and it turned out great! Thanks!
Thanks! Glad it helped
still 250 degrees but a much more uniform 250 degrees. that is the key.
Sir what style kitchen aid mixer is that?
It is the "Artisan" model. I create a "poo-ton" of hardtack (more than 1,000 pieces per year) and would recommend getting a higher grade. I have burned out the motor in this model more than once.
Can you use pre packed shortcrust pastry mix
Lin-Lee, We have never tried it using pre packed shortcrust. Since it is a pastry, my bet is it will be too flaky and not hold up too long in a haversack.
11th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry thankyou for replying. ..I would of used all my pre packed if you hadn't replied...what flour could I use....as I don't think I could easily lay my hands on wheat flour in the uk :$ thankyou ...and it's 2 thumbs up from me Lin-Lee. ..I.m subbed :) ,,,,! !,,,,
How did they originally bake millions and millions of these things? Have you researched the original bakeries?