In honor of January, being National Oatmeal Month, here’s Mom’s copycat recipe for “Hardtack”; as seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – The Best of the Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 179). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition)]. As always, I’m asking only for proper credit if you care to re-share it.
HARDTACK
By Gloria Pitzer, as seen in… Gloria Pitzer’s Cookbook – Best Of The Recipe Detective (Balboa Press; Jan. 2018, p. 179). [A revised reprint of Gloria Pitzer’s Better Cookery Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; May 1983, 3rd Edition).]
This is a cracker-like bread, a popular feature at the Chase Park Restaurant in the St. Louis area, which in pioneer days was a dependable staple of our pilgrim forefathers who had to improvise the ingredients that were available to them under less than satisfactory conditions.
It was also prepared in large iron kettles on the tops of open fires on the prairies and aboard ships on pewter platters suspended above open stone barrels, used to warm the travelers on route to the New World.
NOTE: SESAME SEEDS that have been oven toasted on an ungreased baking pan, or in a 9-inch pie pan, at 425°F for about 5 minutes, per cup of seeds, can be sprinkled over the dough just before you bake it.
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
2 ½ cups biscuit mix
¾ cup sour milk or buttermilk
¼ cup melted bacon drippings
2 tablespoons dark molasses
INSTRUCTIONS:
Combine oatmeal and biscuit mix with a fork until well-blended. Make a well in the center of the mixture and add to it: the milk, bacon drippings and molasses. Blend well, to a smooth dough, and divide into 2 equal portions.
Pat each portion evenly over the bottom of a Pam-sprayed or well-greased, 10-inch, iron skillet. Prick the top of the dough in 40 or 50 places with a 3-tined fork. Bake at 450°F for 10 minutes, placing skillet on oven rack 6 inches above oven floor. (For a Pyrex pie plate, bake 8 ½ minutes. For three 9-inch pie pans, bake 7 minutes – on center rack.)
The hardtack should be lightly browned around the edges but not overly browned all over. It should be cut into pie shaped wedges while warm and served with butter and honey or jam. It can be stored in a tightly covered container at room temperature for weeks or freeze up to a year.
See also…
