Hardtack Recipe

During the “Soldier Experience” portion of The Price of Freedom, students see a 150-year-old piece of hardtack that was signed and dated by a soldier during the Civil War. Hardtack was a food issued to soldiers as a part of their rations (food from the army) and it’s actually not very tasty at all.  It’s made of flour and water, and if you’re lucky – salt. It’s so hard that it can chip your teeth if you eat it without dipping it in liquid first! But the reason it was part of the rations is that it didn’t spoil nearly as fast as regular bread.

 

Do you have the stomach to be a Civil War soldier? Use this easy recipe to make your own batch of hardtack.*

Ingredients:    
2 cups of flour    
½ to ¾ cup water
Salt (5-6 pinches)

What to Do:

1. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Make sure you add enough flour so that the dough is no longer sticky, but be careful not to make it too dry. Knead the dough a few times. During the war, hardtack was about half an inch thick, so when you’re rolling the dough, aim for this thickness. It is easiest to roll the dough directly on an ungreased cookie sheet.
2. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.
3. Cut the large square into smaller 3-inch by 3-inch squares. Poke 16 evenly spaced holes in each square using something wider than a toothpick.
4. Flip, and then return the dough to the oven for another 30 minutes.
5. Turn the oven off, and allow the hardtack to cool in the oven with the door closed.
6. Allow to completely cool before eating.
    

Variation:
Soldiers often soaked their hardtack in leftover water from boiling meat or some other liquid. This softened it and gave it some flavor. You could try chicken broth or soup to make it tastier. Soldiers would even fry the softened hardtack in pork grease.

*Recipe borrowed from The Civil War for Kids by Janis Herbert

Hardtack Song:
What did Civil War soldiers think of hardtack? Listen to this song that was often sung around army campfires to find out.
 

Lyrics to “The Hard Tack Song:”
Let us close our game of poker, take our tin cups in our hand
   As we all stand by the cook's tent door
As dried mummies of hard crackers are handed to each man.
   O, hard tack, come again no more!

CHORUS: 'Tis the song, the sigh of the hungry:
   "O Hard tack, hard tack, come again no more."
Many days you have lingered upon our stomachs sore.
   O, hard tack, come again no more!

'Tis a hungry, thirsty soldier who wears his life away
   In torn clothes--his better days are o'er.
And he's sighing now for whiskey in a voice as dry as hay,
   "O, hard tack, come again no more!"--CHORUS

'Tis the wail that is heard in camp both night and day,
   'Tis the murmur that's mingled with each snore.
'Tis the sighing of the soul for spring chickens far away,
   "O, hard tack, come again no more!"--CHORUS

But to all these cries and murmurs, there comes a sudden hush
   As frail forms are fainting by the door,
For they feed us now on horse feed that the cooks call mush!
   O, hard tack, come again once more!

FINAL CHORUS: 'Tis the dying wail of the starving:
   "O, hard tack, hard tack, come again once more!"
You were old and very wormy, but we pass your failings o'er.
   O, hard tack, come again once more!