Sailing the net with Charlotte Doyle

Chapter 4:

Two important elements of this book are 19^th century Victorian society and women's role in Victorican society.

To give you a little taste of what it was like to be a sailor in the 19^th century, below is a recipe for hardtack, the hard cracker Zachariah offered Miss Doyle.

• Hardtack ingredients:
  • 4 cups flour, preferably whole wheat
  • 4 teaspoons salt
  • Water - about 2 cups

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Mix your flour and salt in a bowl, adding just enough water to form dough that does not stick to your hands or the bowl as you knead it. Then roll the dough out into a rough rectangle about half an inch thick. Cut into three inch squares.

Now using a nail or other object press a patter of four rows of four holes each in each square. Do not go through the entire thickness of the dough. Then turn the hardtack dough over and do the same on the other side.

Next put the squares on an ungreased pan and bake in the oven for half an hour. Then turn the hardtack squares over and bake for another half hour so that the hardtack is just a bit brown on both sides.

When you take the hardtack out of the oven it will be somewhat brittle, but as it cools it will become very hard – hopefully as “hard as a brick”!