Hard Tack

Going on a long sea voyage anytime soon? Needing a little more realism in your monthly civil war reenactments? Want to show your students how life was hard?

Then whip up a batch of hard tack. From Wikipedia:

Hardtack (or hard tack) is a simple type of cracker or biscuit, made from flour, water, and sometimes salt. Inexpensive and long-lasting, it was and is used for sustenance in the absence of perishable foods, commonly during long sea voyages and military campaigns.[1] The name derives from the British sailor slang for food, "tack". It is known by other names such as pilot bread (as rations for ship's pilots[2]), ship's biscuit, shipbiscuit, sea biscuit, sea bread (as rations for sailors) or pejoratively "dog biscuits," "tooth dullers," "sheet iron," "worm castles" or "molar breakers".[3] Australian military personnel know them as ANZAC wafers.

You don't need much to make some hard tack

2 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. Water
1 tsp salt
1 nail (clean of course!)

First, preheat your oven to 375 degrees

Then mix the flour, water and salt until you get a nice ball of dough that doesn't stick too much to your hands. It should be kinda like pie crust.

Once you have the dough, flatten it out and cut into 3" x 3" squares. Then poke holes into the squares and lay out onto a cookie sheet. 

Next you want to bake the crackers, about 30 minutes each side, just watch them so they don't burn.

Once brown, let them cool.

Once they are baked, they are ready to serve. Note, these are VERY hard, please soak them in liquid a bit before trying to eat one.

These will last a very long time as long as they are kept dry, perfect for getting lost at sea!