• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• In a large bowl, mix flour, salt, and water. The dough will be thick, but it should have a dry consistency. If it’s sticky, you can add a little extra flour at a time until it feels just right.
• If you’re doing a variation with added nuts, dehydrated fruits or seasonings –blend them into the dough.
• Sprinkle some extra flour on your countertop or workspace.
• Roll the dough until it is about ½ inch thick.
• Cut your dough into squares or whatever shape you like. You can make them very uniform, like saltines, or cut them with cookie cutters. I left mine slightly rugged-looking but tried to keep them close to the same size.
• Use a toothpick to poke holes in each square.
• Place your cut wafers on an ungreased cooking sheet.
• Bake for 30 minutes.
• Flip your wafers and bake for another 30 minutes.
• Once the wafers are evenly browned, you can turn off the oven and allow them to cool inside the oven. You can also remove them and allow them to cool on a cooling rack. The goal is to remove as much moisture content as possible without burning the cracker.

How to Use Hardtack

• Soaking

  You can’t just bite into a hardtack biscuit – you’ll risk breaking a tooth! You need to prepare them. The easiest way is to dunk it into your coffee, water, or milk, just like a cookie. It will probably take about ten minutes or more for your hardtack to soften up enough to be eaten, no matter what type of liquid you use. But eat it carefully in case it is still hard in the middle!
• Crumbling

  You can crush up your hard tack and use it like a coarse grain. Then, mix it with liquid, such as milk, and fry it to make a pancake-like food.
• Fried

  Once your hardtack has been softened, you can fry it in a skillet with butter, oil, or leftover grease in your skillet. It will cook up like a patty.
• Hardtack Pudding

  Crumble your hardtack into tiny bits, and mix it with a little butter, sugar, and milk (or other liquid). Once it is soft, you can stir it up into a pudding-like dessert.
• Stew

  Turn your soup into a stew by soaking your hardtack in your soup. Then, once it has softened and broken up, you can eat it like a stew.