sourdough dog treats

What to do when you've got sourdough "discard"?

Well, my dog is obsessed with all things fermented.  She would run through the Valley of Death to get to a sourdough pancake, so I figured sourdough treats would be a good high-reward treat for her.  PLus, my friend read the ingredients out loud to the Trader Joe's "Peanut Butter" dog treats, and there wasn't a lick of peanut butter in them.  Time to start making my own.

The recipe is from here, which I follow pretty closely.  I just got a pizza cutter to help make the cutting easier.  The recipe is really for big bone-shapped treats, but I get the most usage when I cut them into tiny treats.  If I cook them thoroughly enough and let them dry, they're countertop stable for a couple of weeks at least (though I tend to freeze the bulk and pull them out as necessary).  My dog loves them and they are high value, so it's a win-win.  They are rich, so she doesn't get very much at a time.  They're made from ingredients that I often have on-hand and need to use up.  It's a winning recipe!

Ingredients

• 2 eggs (or 1/2 c. yogurt)
  
• ¹⁄₂ cup pumpkin
• 1 cup sourdough starter
• ¹⁄₄ cup peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons oil or fat (I'm currently tossing in a tin of sardines in oil in lieu of this fat)
• 1 cup oats
• 2 ¹⁄₂ cups whole wheat flour (approximately 450 grams - when I look up weight for whole wheat flour, answers are all over the place.  Bob's Red Mill says theirs is 152 grams per cup)
  

Directions

1. Combine the first 5 ingredients.
2. Add the oats and as much of the flour as you can until the dough is too hard to mix.
3. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead in the remaining flour.
4. Dough should be stiff, but not crumbly.
5. Roll out dough about 1/2-inch thick and cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters, or for a quicker version just cut 1/2-inch wide strips with a pizza cutter or knife, and then cut strips to 2-inch lengths.
6. Place on ungreased cookie sheets and bake at 325°F for 20 minutes.
7. Turn biscuits over and bake another 20 minutes.
8. Turn off oven and open door so it's ajar to let out excess heat for a few minutes and then close door and leave biscuits in oven until all the heat is gone.
9. If there is still moisture in the biscuits, let them air-dry until they are completely hard and crisp before storing.

*****
I vary this a lot based on what I have on hand.  Today I mixed it in food processor.

Ingredients:
-salmon (1 half pint jar plus skin & juice from a pint)
-2 eggs
-1 cup oats
-1 tsp. bacon drippings
-1 cup red lentils, ground into flour
-1 1/2 or so cup whole wheat, ground into flour

Followed baking directions above.  I think I'll take some to share with coworkers' dogs. 

dog treats

Posted by a woman in a Facebook group I'm in (in the UK), these all look very promising at making my Catahooligan attentive.  I'll gradually try to convert to US measurements.

Peanut Butter Treats
50ml oil (60ml is 1/4 cup)
2 eggs
3 tbsp peanut butter
8oz flour rice, rye or potato or any mix you like
2oz cornmeal - 3/8 c.
2oz oats - 3/8 c.
120ml water - 1/2 c.
Herbs, garlic (optional),

Mix well you need a soft but not sticky dough, roll out to approx. ½” thick, put the whole piece onto a baking tray, cut into biscuits or small treats 1/4” square for training treats, before baking, turn over ½ way through baking. A pizza cutter works well
Bake at 160/170c until dry and slightly golden.

Tuna Treats

110g plain flour, white/ wholemeal/rice/ rye
1 medium sized egg
1 x 140g can of tuna flakes in sunflower oil (drained)
Half a teaspoon of garlic powder or granules

Puree the tuna, mix in the egg add the flour to the egg and tuna, sprinkle on the garlic as you stir it all into a mixture, when it's fully blended to a thick paste, make it into a ball then spread very thinly on the baking sheet using your hands.

line your baking sheet with non- stick silicone paper
Bake in the oven 180c for 30-40 minutes, flip over after 20 minutes and continue baking , it should be golden and fairly hard, let it cool the cut up into desired sized pieces, use a pizza cutter.
I turn the oven off and when I have cut it up I put it back into the oven to dry a bit more
Refrigerate in a plastic dish, or your fridge will smell of garlic for weeks!

Liver treats

I lb of liver (beef/lamb)
1 cup of whole wheat flour or rice/potato
1 cup of cornmeal
1/2 cloves crushed garlic, if desired!
2 eggs

Puree the liver in a food processor, add all the other ingredients and mix well.

Spread onto a greased lined (use non- stick silicone paper) baking sheet, bake in at 180c for 20 minutes flip over half way through cooking, cut into pieces ( I use a pizza cutter)I keep ½ of this recipe in a plastic box and keep in the fridge. The other half I freeze in small lined pieces ( I use a pizza cutter)

This makes 1lb 8oz of treats. For a small dog I would only make ½ quantity

**Fishy treats
1 tin of sardines in tomato sauce or oil. Or a small tin of pink salmon, which I prefer
1 lge egg
1 Tbsp rolled oats
several heaped tbsp rice flour.

Regular plain flour can be used if you prefer, however rice flour ensures that the treats are suitable for dogs with a wheat or gluten intolerance.

First you need to preheat the oven to 150c - 300 F

Method
Put the sardines in a large bowl a and mash with a fork
Beat the egg and stir into the sardines
Add the flour 1 tbsp at a time and mix until you reach a soft dough like consistency that you can roll out use less or more flour as required.

Roll the dough out thinly and cut out using a small cutter, or I simply roll on a piece of nonstick paper then transfer to the baking sheet and cut into small tiny treat size squares on the baking tray with a pizza cutter,
Place on a baking sheet and bake in the oven until the biscuits turn golden – about 30 -40 minutes. They might have some give to them at this stage, so if you prefer them to be really crunchy leave in a little longer.................................................................................................
 
Beef biscuits for dogs

200g of Beef mince (ground beef)
200g of flour I use either Rye flour or Brown Rice flour but wholemeal is fine (approximately 2 cups)
1 tbsp of mixed dried herbs/parsley
1 Egg
1 tsp of sunflower oil
150ml of water how much water you need depends on what flour you use - 2/3 c.
you can also add a clove of crushed garlic if you wish

Mix the flour, herbs and Beef Mince together thoroughly. Best in a mixer
Then add the egg and sunflower oil to the mix,
Add the water a little at a time till you get a pastry like dough (not too sticky)
The easiest is way is to put the rolled out pastry on to a baking tray and lightly cut into the size you require with a pizza cutter
or
Roll out mixture on a floured surface to about a centimetre thick and cut up into about 1 inch size pieces ( bigger or smaller if you want) I use a pizza cutter, for training treats make them very small ¼”.

Place on a greased/ lined baking tray in the oven about 160 turn down if they get too brown, for about 30 minutes, then turn over, break up and cook for a bit longer

If you want them really hard when they are cooked turn the oven off and leave them in the oven for a while longer to harden.

Keep in an airtight tub so far the ones I have made have kept well

tuna dog treats

In a variety of places on-line, here are the tuna dog treats that I've made:

Ingredients:

• 2 (6 ounce) cans tuna in oil (do not drain)
• 1 ¹⁄₂ cups  flour - wheat, coconut, tapioca
• 1 teaspoon garlic power
  
• 2 eggs
• some (a couple Tablespoons) parmesan cheese
  

Toss all of these in a food processor and blend up, then press into a greased 9x9 pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, then chop into small pieces.

My dog loves loves loves these.  I refrigerate and freeze them.