Page 36 - The Lost Ways

This 30-minute cook time is merely the first of at least two bakes these hard biscuits will
go through. This process, although time consuming, will ensure that there is no remaining
moisture in your hardtacks. Any moisture becomes the complete enemy of this process
of shelf stability. Some old recipes call for three and even four times in the oven. These

biscuits must have been closer kin to bricks than food.

Once your first 30 minutes is over, pull out the hardtacks and allow them to cool. The
steam will come out of them, and they will get pretty hard, although they will not be hard
or dry enough to store at this point. After having cooled them for about 20 minutes, place
them back in the oven. This time set your timer for one hour.

It will be this bake that thoroughly dries your biscuits and also begins to give them a
pleasing bit of color.

Following the last hour of baking, turn your oven off. DO NOT REMOVE THE HARDTACKS.
Instead, leave your pilot’s biscuits in the turned-off oven. Let the heat slowly drop in the
oven while your biscuits slowly dry even further. This is a great practice for really zapping
any remaining moisture left inside.

At this point, you have created some
decent shelf-stable hardtacks. Now,
unlike most foods you spend time
making from scratch, I can’t say you will
be delighted to try them. They are dry
and hard. Those are basically the two

features for your palate when it comes
to hardtacks.

It won’t get much better than that, and
really, it shouldn’t. Remember, if you
decide to flavor them up with butter or
herbs, this will simply add ingredients
that will drastically shorten the shelf life
of your hardtacks. Keep it simple, and

they will last forever.

Also, when you read about just how hard these HARDtacks are, you must understand that
there aren’t words that do them justice. If you do decide to taste the fruits of your labor,
I advise you to take some precautions. Make sure you are chewing with the best teeth

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