Middle Earth Ranger Forum

does anybody know a recipe for hard tack?
I've heard that it keeps for a long time.

I thought it would be fun to give this a try. Here's what I came up with:

1 1/2 cup white bread flour
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (high protein)
1 1/2 cup honey
2 tbsp ground flax
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup dried apples, diced
1/2 cup walnuts, diced

I downsized this recipe and just made one piece to experiment, but this recipe should make 12. I cooked mine at 350 for 25 minutes, but it browned a lot on the bottom and was softer than I would have liked, so I left it out on the counter overnight. It had toughened up by the next morning. In the future, I think I'll try 300 degrees for longer and might flip them when one side looks done.



After a night out on the counter, it was pretty tough, but not nearly as hard as some hardtack that I've had. I calculated that one contains about 400 calories, which wouldn't sustain a grown man for a full day's march, but my fiance and I split one and decided that it made a pretty tasty breakfast before hitting the archery range.

That looks pretty good! There's not alot of moisture in your recipe which is a good thing. Moisture kills the storage life.

Very nice! Yours is definitely a bit "grainier" than mine, if you will, which has its advantages. I feel like an actual Elven bread would be very fine and smooth in consistency, but mine didn't really turn out that way much either. In the end that's why I basically started thinking of it as a sort of Dunedain adaptation of actual Elven lembas bread. Still, my next time around I'm going to see if I can make it a little more "elven" looking, if I can.
One way or the other, I'm glad to see someone else trying their hand at these!

I agree that it's a little more rustic looking than Elven bread would probably be. I think for my next try I'll substitute more ground flax for the oats. They contain similar amounts of carbs, but the ground flax is actually more calorically dense due to a higher fat content. They probably won't keep as long, but I think it'd be worth trying, at least.

I am very interested in how that turns out!

Very cool, guys. I've been meaning to do this myself for a while, but reading this thread yesterday drove me to jump in and make something up. I've done one of the recipies before that was supposed to be some kind of lembas bread look-alike, and it was kind of a cross between a biscuit and a cookie; this time, I wanted something that was more functionally equivalent to lembas - provide plenty of energy to keep you on your feet all day, tasted good, and (hopefully) keep for a while at room temperature.

I decided to make chia (that's c-h-i-a, not chai) one of my central ingredients. That's right, as in "chia pets." If you're not familiar with it as a food product, you can read up on it a little here: http://wellnessmama.com/4981/10-uses-for-chia-seeds/
When you read a little on its history and benefits, you might realize why.

Anyway, I also liked the idea of using nuts as a major ingredient, both from a flavor and nutrient point of view. And since honey has been listed on some of the recipes in this thread as the only "moisturizer," and because of the preservative qualities mentioned previously, I decided to use that as my only moisturizer.

Because this is supposed to be a sort of Dunedain travel food, (which is what I'm aiming for here rather than an elvish version), I decided to keep the ingredients to natural, whole foods as much as I could (I was just using things I had in the house, since this was kind of spur-of-the-moment). That meant that, at least on this version, no ground-up caffiene pills, and no protein mix.

So here is my Dunedain waybread, V1.0
1 Cup Chia seed, ground (I used a vitamix to grind)
1 Cup bread flour
1 Cup Honey
1/2 Cup almonds, ground
1/2 Cup Flax Flour
1/4 Cup Walnuts, ground
1/4 Cup Pine nuts, ground
1 TBSP Organic Raw Cacao powder
1 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
Dash of nutmeg

Mix the ingredients and bake in the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Here are my observations:
I don't have any pictures, because it doesn't really "look" like lembas. I put the whole mix in a shallow pan, and cut squares out of it. The color is about the same as gingerbread; the texture is similar to a brownie. The flavor is... well, I can't compare it to anything else really. It's not like "that's so amazingly good" but it's also not bad tasting (the honey helps there). I guess sweet, but "wholesome" would be the best way to describe it.
If you want to taste the vanilla or nutmeg (or use cinnamon, I didn't have any when I made this), you will need to use more than I did.
The dough is... interesting. It sticks to itself very well, but tends to not stick to anything else, which is good. It's not stretchy, and it tears easily. Not really like any other dough I've worked with (not that I have an extensive experience)

There are a few things I will probably do differently if I do a variant of this recipie again:
-use less pine nuts. They have a strong flavor, and it comes through a little in the end product.
-use less (or no) baking soda. I don't know what effect leavening has on how long something like this will keep, but I imagine it's probably not good. Changing this would probably change the consistency from a brownie to more of a cracker. At least it's not a tooth-breaker as is though.
-substitute bakers ammonia (ammonium carbonate) for baking soda. If you're not familiar with this product, I recommend reading up on it. Basically it was what they used before baking soda and baking powder were invented; it creates an end product more "airy" than baking soda or baking powder; it is appropriate for "medieval" (or pre-1800's) baking; and it is said that products made with it actually *improve* with age, to some extent. That being said, I have not tried making anything with it yet, but I intend to.
-Bake longer at a lower temperature. I have to research this some more, but I know that a lot of things that are good for you in all these ingredients get destroyed with heat. It may be better if I can find out what that temperature is and "bake" this below that temperature. Essentially, all that really has to happen is it has to dry out and become hard.

I'm intrigued by a lot of your ingredients. There are definitely some things in there I'm going to have to try out.

Overall, I think next time I do it I'm going to use my basic recipe with the addition of some cocoa powder or a little instant coffee, and also some almond flour/meal instead of (or perhaps in addition to) the chopped almonds. I may also try ginger in place of cinnamon.

The chia seeds are an interesting idea though, I have to admit.

Well, I'm finally getting the chance to try this again...

Here's my Dunedain Lembas v. 1.1

1 Cup Chia (ground)
1 Cup Bread Flour
1 Cup Honey
2/3 Cup Flax Flour (this was an accident, I meant to keep it at 1/2)
1/2 Cup Almonds
1/2 Cup Pecans (in place of walnuts, which i couldn't find today)
1/4 Cup Coconut (in place of pine nuts)
2 TBSP Organic Raw Cacao Powder
1 TBSP Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder

Changes for this round were mostly to try to improve the overall flavor. That was the reason for adding the cinnamon, increasing the vanilla, and adding the coconut. I also stuck dried cranberries into half, to see what that was like. I decided to wait till next time to try low-temp cooking; I'm cooking these at 300 F. I just put them in the oven, I will let you know how they turn out.

....There's always a chia joke.... (my mom says the reason my hair is so think is because I eat chia )

Well, I took my waybread out on a camping trip - it was quite popular, everyone who tried it said they thought it was really good. The consistency probably could have been better; I cooked it at ~300 F for ~20 mins, which left it soft. By the end of the trip, the pieces i had left were stuck together.

I think next time I may try substituting barley for wheat flour. I feel like that would be more appropriate given the time period.

Also, on Elvish Lembas - I seem to recall that it was supposed to have mallorn nuts as part of its ingredients. Mallorns were described as being similar to large beech trees. Ergo - beech nuts. Problem is, they're hard to mass harvest and process, so you can't buy them at the store.... and it takes around 40 years for a beech tree to start producing after it has been planted. If you have a lead on beech nuts, try them out!

Eärendur wrote:....There's always a chia joke.... (my mom says the reason my hair is so think is because I eat chia )

Well, I took my waybread out on a camping trip - it was quite popular, everyone who tried it said they thought it was really good. The consistency probably could have been better; I cooked it at ~300 F for ~20 mins, which left it soft. By the end of the trip, the pieces i had left were stuck together.

I think next time I may try substituting barley for wheat flour. I feel like that would be more appropriate given the time period.

Also, on Elvish Lembas - I seem to recall that it was supposed to have mallorn nuts as part of its ingredients. Mallorns were described as being similar to large beech trees. Ergo - beech nuts. Problem is, they're hard to mass harvest and process, so you can't buy them at the store.... and it takes around 40 years for a beech tree to start producing after it has been planted. If you have a lead on beech nuts, try them out!

I've read that in the Middle Ages, wheat was the 'rich man's grain,' whereas barley and rye were what the peasants ate.

Very good to know. I'm wonder how difficult barley flour would be to come by. Otherwise I'm sure rye is available.

I don't know about how difficult it is in general; I saw some at my local Meijer. I don't know if they have those in Colorado, though. (It's like a super walmart, only nicer).