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So... I woke up this morning. Got ready for school. My ride didn't pick me up, so I asked my dad for a lift. When we got there: empty. Simple as that. So now I'm stuck here at home all day long with nothing to look forward to for today, not even play practice! But I do have to admit, it is pretty nice! I can just relax here at home without having to worry about my score on my math test I took yesterday.... So nice!
Well, since I have almost nothing better to do today, I think I might as well make some cram. So what is cram? Well, for all of you non-geeky over obsessive Hobbit/Lord of the Rings fans: a traveling food. Made by the men of Dale, and given to Bilbo and the 12 dwarves he traveled with while they were in Lake-Town. Here's what we (I) know about cram from the book itself:
Well, since I have almost nothing better to do today, I think I might as well make some cram. So what is cram? Well, for all of you non-geeky over obsessive Hobbit/Lord of the Rings fans: a traveling food. Made by the men of Dale, and given to Bilbo and the 12 dwarves he traveled with while they were in Lake-Town. Here's what we (I) know about cram from the book itself:
'...it is biscuitish, keeps good indefinitely, is supposed to be sustaining, and is certainly not entertaining, being in fact very uninteresting except as a chewing exercise. It was made by the Lake-men for long journeys.'
And, in HOME (History of Middle-Earth) V, cram is defined as a 'cake of compressed flour or meal (often containing honey and milk) used on long journeys'.
So there we have it. It sounds like what they made was a very hard, biscuit like thing, that would keep almost indefinitely, and was flavored with milk and honey. It almost sounds like hard-tack, except that almost all hard-tack recipes call for a mixture of flour, salt, and water. No honey, no milk. But, after some long hard searching, I found something that just might work. It's called Swedish Hard-tack, and after looking at the ingredients, I decided that this is the closest we'll ever get to the real thing.
So there we have it. It sounds like what they made was a very hard, biscuit like thing, that would keep almost indefinitely, and was flavored with milk and honey. It almost sounds like hard-tack, except that almost all hard-tack recipes call for a mixture of flour, salt, and water. No honey, no milk. But, after some long hard searching, I found something that just might work. It's called Swedish Hard-tack, and after looking at the ingredients, I decided that this is the closest we'll ever get to the real thing.
Swedish Hardtack/Cram
* 1 cup water
* 3 tbsp. vegetable oil
* 3 tbsp honey
* 3 cups rye flour (or 1 1/2 cups rye & 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour)
* 1/4 tsp. salt
* 1 cup water
* 3 tbsp. vegetable oil
* 3 tbsp honey
* 3 cups rye flour (or 1 1/2 cups rye & 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour)
* 1/4 tsp. salt
Mix liquids together. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients. Combine the mixtures, stirring to moisten throughout. Form a ball. On a floured surface, flatten the dough, and roll out thinly. Cut into squares and prick each cracker with the tines of a fork a couple of times. Transfer to lightly greased baking sheets. Bake at 425° F for around 8 minutes, checking to be sure not to over-brown.
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