Day 47 of 365

Soft Tack

Sunday morning of daylight savings, when you roll back the clock and gain that ever elusive extra hour of sleep.

Not this Sunday!

Because my days are unpredictable and I'll do a 365 experience whenever possible, this beautiful morning shouldn't be any different. My oldest kid is a quirky one and focused on navigating an ever evolving life path, the trip so far has had some turns that involve interesting choices. This morning at 0500 we baked bread. Not fluffy crusty bread. That would have been amazing with my cup of coffee and maybe a bit of blackberry jam. No, we didn't bake crusty delicious bread, we made soft tack.

I'll preface this by saying that I'd bake mud pies with either of my kids at any time. I love them that way and if you know me at all you'll remember that any time you came to visit when my kids were young, we were making messes, exploring and being creative all the time. No apologies, just seizing every moment.

So back to the delicious soft tack bread that we baked. It's a little bit better than those bits of paper I used to chew on in grade school before the lunch bell rang. Yes, I was that hungry in second grade.

At zero dark thirty we mixed up very basic ingredients and in military fashion pounded out a thick layer of dough. The recipe isn't complex but it does require security clearance and since the interweb is not secure you'll have to contact a veteran and see if they're willing to cough it up. Really. Or, I'm told that a History professor brought this during a lecture and my kid asked for the recipe, but I like my story better. My kid might give it up if tortured with Starbucks. Just sayin'

The dough is rolled out pretty thick and then we cut it in to rectangles a little bigger that a slice of crusty bread. The important features of soft tack are the tiny holes poked in the surface to help vent the dough during the baking process.

A tiny side note: I use parchment when baking so I never have to worry about food sticking. I asked my kid to line the pan, something that's been done every time we bake anything together. Instead I find waxed paper on top of the baking sheet. I explain all the things that will go wrong here.

I'll pause, you imagine.

We have a great laugh and I'm happy to share this morning together. I really love this kid.

So we've cut and poked our soft tack and pop the tray in at 400 degrees for about 20 mins. I drink coffee and the kid gets ready for work. For once I fight the urge to peek in the oven because I'm very curious and impatient. The timer dings and I open the oven door and I'm not impressed. I don't eat a lot of bread these days so when I do I really want something tasty. That's not soft tack. I'm happy to say that my kid will be eating this all week for breakfast and it went out the door this morning. I don't have to worry about consuming it again. If we had the time we might have made hard tack which is twice baked soft tack. It's a freakin' cracker people. I will note that hard tack was meant to be a military ration and that explains why my kid eats it. Thank you Parkside History department.

Best part of day 47? My kid in my kitchen, being amazing and quirky and baking bread.

Love & Light