I am trying to make hard tack. I am mixing 2 cups of flour with 1 cup or so of water and some salt. However, I am having trouble getting it to become hard all the way through. I am baking at 300 degrees F for over 3 hours and it never fully gets dry. What is the secret to good tack?

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I am trying to make hard tack.

I must know why. I am burning to know.

I'm not saying there isn't a good answer, and "just to do it" is perfectly valid, but you just don't run into many people in 2021 who are trying to level up their Hard Tack game.

I am so curious about the chain of events that led to you making -- hard tack.

And when you get your 'Tack on, will you be doing so with plain hard tack, or will you be getting crazy with the jam or something to tame all of that flouriness?

Perhaps this could be a competitor to Escape Rooms: Primitivist sea voyages: hard tack, rum, sodomy, and the lash. Experience *REAL* scurvy, once the citrus goes off. For the True Experience of the Age of Exploration.

I can see the reviews now: "5/5 stars! I got malaria, and then scurvy, and only after day 73 did I truly understand what abject boredom was. I have a new appreciation for my office job. I practically *skip* to work now!"

I salute you for making hard tack but I must know why, sir. I must know why.

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aaron_jones wrote to All <=-

I am trying to make hard tack. I am mixing 2 cups of flour with 1 cup
or so of water and some salt. However, I am having trouble getting it
to become hard all the way through. I am baking at 300 degrees F for
over 3 hours and it never fully gets dry. What is the secret to good
tack?

Reviewing some recipies on line, I would say that you need to
1. Make sure that you have holes punched through the tack dough to let the center moisture out.
2. Keep the tack squares small. Larger squares will be harder to dry. The recipe I'm looking at right now says 3 inch squares.
3. The recipe also calls for flipping them over in the middle of the baking process.
4. And, of course, completely cool before wrapping. When they leave the oven they will NOT be completely dry. But letting them sit on a cooling rack for a while will let them get hard.


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I am trying to make hard tack. I am mixing 2 cups of flour with 1 cup or s of water and some salt. However, I am having trouble getting it to become hard all the way through. I am baking at 300 degrees F for over 3 hours an it never fully gets dry. What is the secret to good

Add water in small drops and knead until water is absorbed. Repeat until you have a firm doe, that doesn't stack on your hands.

The thickness of each hard tack must be up to 1cm, no more and also make deep holes along the surface of it.

Personally i was using, 1 cup flour, about 1 tea spoon salt, for very long lasting hard tacks, but they get very hard and salty. Only for keeping them for a long time.

It's all about try and error :)

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xqtr wrote to aaron jones <=-

I am trying to make hard tack. I am mixing 2 cups of flour with 1 cup or s of water and some salt. However, I am having trouble getting it to become hard all the way through. I am baking at 300 degrees F for over 3 hours an it never fully gets dry. What is the secret to good

Personally i was using, 1 cup flour, about 1 tea spoon salt, for very
long lasting hard tacks, but they get very hard and salty. Only for keeping them for a long time.

Are these for culinary efforts, or for historical re-enactment?

When I think of hard tack, I think of sailing ships and military field
cooking in the 18th century.




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Are these for culinary efforts, or for historical re-enactment?

Both and more :)

When I think of hard tack, I think of sailing ships and military field cooking in the 18th century.

That is the idea. Often, present cooking recipes, add ingredients that are not so preservable (like fruits and berries), thus making the hard tack easier to get rotten. The "old-style" hard tack, has only salt and a lot of it. It's also a way of storing salt ;)

With the Prepping "movement", many people today, try and make hard tacks for storing flour/salt and have something to eat in case of a disaster. ;)

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Here is the recipe that I've used before, came out good.

(for 16 pieces)
3+ cups Unbleached AP Flour
3 tsp Salt
1 cup water

Preheat the oven to 375F
In the bowl mix 3 cups of flour with the salt
Add 1 cup of water and stir until it becomes too difficult.
Knead dough in bowl with hands, adding more flour to make it very dry. Press,pull, and roll dough into a rectangle that can be divided into 3-inch squares of 1/2-inch thickness.
Use a table knife to cut dough into squares.
Holding each square in hand, punch 16 holes through it with an 8 penny nail, being carefull not to hurt yourself.
Place dough squares on ungreaded baking sheets and bake for 30 minutes, until crisp and lightly browned.
Cool before storing in a closed container.

(recipe from "The Little House Cookbook")
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With the Prepping "movement", many people today, try and make hard
tacks for storing flour/salt and have something to eat in case of a disaster. ;)

When I was a kid, I made some as part of a science project. Come to think
of it, I may have done as part of two projects in different years. :) It
must not have been too difficult if I was able to do it at ~11 years old.

Funny thing is I forget why I originally chose to do it. I must have read something about the early settlers doing it.


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xqtr wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

That is the idea. Often, present cooking recipes, add ingredients that
are not so preservable (like fruits and berries), thus making the hard tack easier to get rotten. The "old-style" hard tack, has only salt and
a lot of it. It's also a way of storing salt ;)

With the Prepping "movement", many people today, try and make hard
tacks for storing flour/salt and have something to eat in case of a disaster. ;)

I suppose they do have an almost infinite shelf life if something else
doesn't get to them first.

It makes a good thickener for a camp stew, too. I like watching cooking re- enactment channels on YouTube; there's a couple of videos re-enacting
British army WWI field cooking making a corned beef stew and using a similar biscuit broken up in the base. It's eye-opening to think of life as a
soldier a couple of wars ago.


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using a similar biscuit broken up in the base. It's eye-opening to think of life as a soldier a couple of wars ago.

It's an irony, that many technologies and achievements, were invented/achieved, because of war. Canned food was one of them ;)

https://www.britannica.com/topic/canning-food-processing

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I like to eat hard tack with coffee. I will make little hard tack cookies and then I break them up and put them in my coffee cup. I read about it in a book when I was younger, tried it, and actually liked it.

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