# Wanted: good recipe for hardtack



## dwight55 (Nov 9, 2012)

In researching late 1800's cooking and foodtuffs, . . . this "hardtack" thing keeps popping up.

Apparently, it is a hard cracker, . . . capable of breaking teeth, . . . but nutritious none the less.

Just wondering if anyone out there has a reasonably doable recipe preppers could use to store up a stash of the stuff.

Thanks, . . . may God bless,
Dwight


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

I've never tried baking it, but there is a commercial product very similiar to it. It's called "Yehuda Matso". Made with flour only. If you've never tried it, it's like eating sawdust. I keep some in the house as a prep. It'll probably be there forever, I'm not gonna eat it. A Jewish friend gives it to me after every Passover. He won't eat it either.


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## Spice (Dec 21, 2014)

I'm not storing hardtack as a prep. The real value of the stuff is that it can be made with no more than flour, water, and heat. I've got plenty of wheat, and the means to grind it to flour. If I can't do better do to circumstances, I can make the hardtack as needed, or so the theory goes.


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## Prepared One (Nov 5, 2014)

Never heard of the stuff. Sounds like you can use it to build a fair shelter tho.


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

If you have flour, water and heat why have hardtack when you can make sourdough bread with the same ingredients?


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## 7052 (Jul 1, 2014)

I use the 4-3-2 recipe for Hard Tack. EASY to make, easy to store, lasts forever (especially if vacuum sealed). 

4 cups flour
3 teaspoons salt
2 cups water

Mix, add water slowly until dough is sticky but not too wet. Lay it out on a floured cutting board and roll. Cut into squares (I like mine 3"x3" and roughly .5" thick), poke homes part way through on the top and bottom w/ a fork. Bake @ 375 for 30 minutes, flip them and bake another 30 minutes. When done they will be slightly brown and should easily break when fresh. They will harden as they cool.

I like to leave mine out for a day or so before I vacuum seal them. By then, they are hard as a brick. My wife doesn't like them, but my son and I love 'em. I think they have a somewhat buttery (maybe nutty?) flavor. Supposedly they are very nutritious. I keep a few in each of the Get-Home-Bags as "filler".

Seriously man, probably one of the easiest "survival foods" you can make.

Update: The amount of salt you add can vary based on your taste. My son wanted it saltier, so I changed it to 4 teaspoons once. Worked just as well, but I didn't like the flavor as much. He loved it. But since I buy the stuff and make it, he got overruled. lol


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## SARGE7402 (Nov 18, 2012)

I buy mine in small biscuit sizes at one of three local korean markets. try googling korean rye hard tack


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## Alpha-17 (Nov 16, 2012)

Egyas said:


> I use the 4-3-2 recipe for Hard Tack. EASY to make, easy to store, lasts forever (especially if vacuum sealed).
> 
> 4 cups flour
> 3 teaspoons salt
> 2 cups water


This is close to what I use. The little bit of salt you're using really helps with the flavor, and I've found they're not terrible to eat, even after several months unsealed.


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## dwight55 (Nov 9, 2012)

Egyas said:


> I use the 4-3-2 recipe for Hard Tack. EASY to make, easy to store, lasts forever (especially if vacuum sealed).
> 
> 4 cups flour
> 3 teaspoons salt
> ...


Well, . . . guess I'll find out, . . . this looks to be pretty simple.

I got me a basic "outdoor cookery" setup with a couple cast iron dutch ovens, . . . skillets, . . . bean pot, . . . etc. Want to learn how to use it, . . . will be trying this later when I know what it should be by doing it indoors the first few times.

BTW, . . . how many of the 3 x 3 cookies does this make?

May God bless,
Dwight


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## Jakthesoldier (Feb 1, 2015)

If you are wanting to make it for the experience, and knowledge, great.
If you intend of using it as food, I'd suggest reading what the soldiers who had to survive on that crap called it, how they felt about it, and what it did to morale.


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## Alpha-17 (Nov 16, 2012)

Jakthesoldier said:


> If you are wanting to make it for the experience, and knowledge, great.
> If you intend of using it as food, I'd suggest reading what the soldiers who had to survive on that crap called it, how they felt about it, and what it did to morale.


The complaints about the impact on morale usually came from the molded, badly preserved stuff with weavels and the like, or the Civil War leftovers in the Spanish American War. In general, Hardtack served many armies across the world for several hundred years, and did so effectively. This shouldn't be used as a sole prep, but for long term storage? It's a great back up or preservation method.


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## Jakthesoldier (Feb 1, 2015)

Alpha-17 said:


> The complaints about the impact on morale usually came from the molded, badly preserved stuff with weavels and the like, or the Civil War leftovers in the Spanish American War. In general, Hardtack served many armies across the world for several hundred years, and did so effectively. This shouldn't be used as a sole prep, but for long term storage? It's a great back up or preservation method.


That, and when it was all there was to eat. Trying so subsist on hardtack is worse than the traditional prisoners diet of bread and water.


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

real hard tack is made from rye chops.
Salt water and chops, roll to 1/4" thick cut squares to desired sizes perforate with holes about 5/16" apart from each other'
The holes MUST be in there to bake properly. If not the center will be soggy and will not store. must be completely cooked out. to the teeth breaking hardness.
I have made tack, vac packed it with o2 eaters.
What I have made was still good 8 years later, best to dunk in coffee or some other beverage and let it soak up some for a min or two, easier to eat that way.

This product is not the same as matzos, It is harder, drier made from a different grain and last ten times longer.
you can get it in supermarkets product name is rye crisp. there are different brands. 
Buy and compare the two, 
tru hard tack is usually imported from Sweden and Finland.
some comes in rectangular packages and some eighteen inch wheels stacked ten high. 
I grew up with the wheels.
I usually eat it with pickled herring, soaking it in the wine brine first.
I forgot, sprinkle the loose grain or cornmeal on the cookie tin before putting down the squares, does two things, lets the moisture out from underneath and keep the squares from sticking.


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## Medic33 (Mar 29, 2015)

if it's anything like K-rations it sucks.
doesn't sound like it but it is a hard cracker or bisque.
I remember it is like cornmeal I think? baked then dried out and cut into bars or squares.
I also remember bacon did not need to be refrigerated and was made similar to salt pork or something like that.


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## 7052 (Jul 1, 2014)

Something like 12.


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## beast (Nov 1, 2014)

the recipe i have calls for several separate bakings so it is totally dry and hard
the nice thing about hardtack is it will keep, even in a backpack or BOB
what most dont know, is if you over cook it or roast it you can use the brown to black
crumbs to make coffee, itss caffiene free but when youre outta joe....
but hardtack and good pemican will keep you alive and functioning a long time
and they both keep exceptionally well
as for weevils, just store your hardtack with bay leaves, they wont go near those


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

There is no "good" recipe for hard tack. 
The stuff stores well as long as you can keep it dry and open in low humidity areas. If it gets moisture it will mold just like bread.
I would rather store the wheat grain. That way you can make sourdough bread or sprout it to get the vitamins and minerals from eating the sprouts.
Hard tack is like over baked saltine crackers without the salt or baking powder. It's like eating dried glue. If you moisten it in a stew or coffee it's like eating half dried glue. "yummy"


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## JustAnotherNut (Feb 27, 2017)

SOCOM42 said:


> real hard tack is made from rye chops.
> Salt water and chops, roll to 1/4" thick cut squares to desired sizes perforate with holes about 5/16" apart from each other'
> The holes MUST be in there to bake properly. If not the center will be soggy and will not store. must be completely cooked out. to the teeth breaking hardness.
> I have made tack, vac packed it with o2 eaters.
> ...


Do you mean Finn Crisp? I grew up eating these with butter & peanut butter on it. Good stuff


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

JustAnotherNut said:


> Do you mean Finn Crisp? I grew up eating these with butter & peanut butter on it. Good stuff


Not that I remember, that was 70 years ago give or take a few years.

The round ones were around 12 inches in diameter, which we broke up, do not remember the packaging.

They weren't in a box but folded wax paper of sorts into a round with a round label on it.

The ones I eat today are from a company called Wasa, they are the only ones available around here,

and not at the local market but one in an ethnic town nearby, there were others but the local market has shifted to

satisfy the rich liberals infesting the area, they dropped a lot of products and are more like the Boston stores now.

Nothing like reviving an old thread.


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## JustAnotherNut (Feb 27, 2017)

SOCOM42 said:


> Not that I remember, that was 70 years ago give or take a few years.
> 
> The round ones were around 12 inches in diameter, which we broke up, do not remember the packaging.
> 
> ...


yeah I found a recipe for Hardtack I was going to share and doing a site search, found ya'll beat me to it.


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## paulag1955 (Dec 15, 2019)

JustAnotherNut said:


> yeah I found a recipe for Hardtack I was going to share and doing a site search, found ya'll beat me to it.


That link is to a page on the Walmart website with links to a bunch of recipes on it. Is that the one you meant to link to?


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## paulag1955 (Dec 15, 2019)

Hardtack couldn't possibly have been similar to RyKrisp or Wasabrod. Hard tack was so hard it had to be rehydrated in order to be soft enough to eat. Either RyKrisp or Wasabrod would be turned into crumbs during a military campaign.


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## JustAnotherNut (Feb 27, 2017)

paulag1955 said:


> That link is to a page on the Walmart website with links to a bunch of recipes on it. Is that the one you meant to link to?


What link?? I thought I had posted a pic....or atleast that's what I see


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

paulag1955 said:


> Hardtack couldn't possibly have been similar to RyKrisp or Wasabrod. Hard tack was so hard it had to be rehydrated in order to be soft enough to eat. Either RyKrisp or Wasabrod would be turned into crumbs during a military campaign.


If you are referring to my postings, I had said that what I ate as a kid was hardtack in the form of a 12" wheel,

as I said I do not remember the name of it.

I said I use to soak it in the pickling brine the herring came in, then ate both, did this not come out in the post???

I then stated that today I use the Wasa brand with the herring, it has been the only available commercial product I like.

I don't have time or the energy to make my own for the amount eaten today, currently I use a product called Vita herring.

The herring came out of wooden barrels in the market as a whole fish, they were shipped here in those barrels,

the time frame for my remembering eating was at the earliest was 1948-9, my grandparents ate it all the time.

They brought the fish and brine home in a bucket like the beer buckets of the 30's but with a lid.


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## AndyR (Feb 21, 2020)

My simple version to make hardtack or ships biscuits is this:


2 cups flour
1/2 tablespoon salt (optional)
1/2 to 3/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Combine flour with salt in a mixing bowl. Add water and mix with hands until the dough comes together. Roll out on a table to about 1/3 inch thickness. Use a knife to cut 3×3 squares from the dough. Place on baking sheet, and use a dowel (see note above) to make 16 evenly-spaced holes in each square. Bake for at least four hours, turning over once half-way through baking. Cool on a rack in a dry room.


Tried them a few times and the last time I got them right, I added some dry herbs and butter, so they aren't exactly like in the traditional version.

You can always spice things up by adding chili pepper, cocoa or other ingredient you like. But the more things you add the less it will be hardtack and more like normal biscuit/cookies .


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

7052 said:


> I use the 4-3-2 recipe for Hard Tack. EASY to make, easy to store, lasts forever (especially if vacuum sealed).
> 
> 4 cups flour
> 3 teaspoons salt
> ...


Looks highly realistic to the untrained eye. Thanks. If a person added half a cup of Crisco to the base recipe it could make a good flour tort for them with bread machines or a cute mamacita to come knead it for half and hour or so. Do believe every culture in the world has a flat bread recipe of some sort.


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## NKAWTG (Feb 14, 2017)

Shoot, my aunt could make hard tack completely by accident - such was her cooking abilities...


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## agmccall (Jan 26, 2017)

I remember when I was a kid my aunt Rini (pronounced Ree Nee) every morning would break hardtack into a bowl and add milk and eat as cereal. Aunt Rini and Grandma grew up in the depression. 

al


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## NKAWTG (Feb 14, 2017)

agmccall said:


> I remember when I was a kid my aunt Rini (pronounced Ree Nee) every morning would break hardtack into a bowl and add milk and eat as cereal. Aunt Rini and Grandma grew up in the depression.
> 
> al


Like hardtack for breakfast, cornmeal mush was also a depression era favorite. My mom (who grew up during the depression) would make it for breakfast (yummy) and spread the leftovers on a baking pan for cookies when I got home from school.


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