Pre-ANZAC

Finally, I'm home, and it's time to go on a baking bender. Tomorrow is ANZAC Day, which commemorates the Australia and New Zealand Army Corp's invasion of Turkey (Gallipoli, there's a movie, go see it) in WWI. It's traditional to eat "ANZAC Biscuits", which are basically cookies made with oatmeal, butter, sugar, sugar syrup of some type, and a little baking soda. I like to use the opportunity to remember that I really would rather be studying history. That would not make a good bumper sticker.

So, I want to be authentic, and use the recipe (some short history there as well) on the Aussie War Memorial site. I leave out the coconut, partially because the coconut wasn't introduced until later, and partially because I don't particularly care for coconut in cookies.

I also learn that these cookies aren't really anything that the ANZACs would have eaten, but were developed later. What the soldiers ate were called ANZAC tiles, and are really just hardtack. This made a lot of sense, and I decided I had to try making hardtack.

This meant I would be baking four things tonight:

1. Anzac Biscuits
2. Anzac Tiles
3. A normal bread for the hell of it
4. I don't remember...Damn. Maybe it was bagels?

All told, it took about 6 hours and I finished around midnight. If you like cookies, ANZAC Biscuits are incredibly easy to make, take all of 10 minutes, and last a long time (appropriately). I use "full-flavor" (not blackstrap) molasses instead of "golden syrup", which is a British thing (partially inverted cane syrup I think) and usually costs a lot. Molasses adds a really cool flavor as well, and works nicely in the recipe. I also use McCanns oatmeal (quick-cooking), rather than Quaker's awful excuse for oats.

If it's any incentive, M, who dislikes oatmeal cookies, loved them.

As for the hardtack/tile, it was easily the most difficult thing I've ever baked. There's so little water that it took me forever to get the dough to come together. I would knead and then wait, and repeat for a long time. Hardtack has been around for a very long time, and soldiers wives used to make it at home. So I felt quite a bit weaker than a colonial housewife, but that might be fair.

Anyway, over the span of about 2 hours, I managed to get this stuff rolled out and it was still too thick. I baked it anyway. Now, *real* hardtack is just flour and water. Salt will hold on to moisture in the dough and make it go bad, as will sugar. The milk powder is probably out as well. Now keep in mind that we're talking a 3-month to 1 year shelf life, so it might not be an issue if you're planning on going through the supply in a month or two. I wasn't going to argue with the war memorial, and the blend of whole wheat with the touch of sugar and milk powder seemed like it might be quite tasty. Well, when it came out of the oven it wasn't very good. I'd read that proper hardtack should break cleanly, and should not give when pressed with a fingernail. Mind was crispy enough around the edges, but clearly was not rolled thin enough, or baked long enough. It was done, but I think it would have even benefitted from twice-baking, once to dry and once to crisp, which I think is a traditional way to do it.

For all that work, I was a bit disappointed, but that's how it goes sometimes. Fortunately, I had some delicious cookies to console me.