What flour is best for dog treats?

Inhaltsverzeichnis Show

• 1. Choose a Base
• 2. Choose Your Flavors
• 3. Sweet or Savory
• 4. Lovin’ in the Oven
• 5. Decorating With Icing
• How to Store Flours
• Hard Wheat vs. Soft Wheat
• Combining Flours
• Most Common Flours
• All-Purpose Flour
• Bread Flour
• Self Rising Flour
• Whole Wheat Flour
• Alternative Flours
• Almond Flour
• Amaranth Flour
• Barley Flour
• Brown Rice Flour
• Buckwheat Flour
• Chickpea Flour
• Coconut Flour
• Flaxseed Flour
• Millet Flour
• Peanut Flour
• Potato Flour
• Quinoa Flour
• Semolina Flour
• Sorghum Flour
• Sprouted Flour
• Spelt Flour
• Vital Wheat Gluten Flour
• White Rice Flour
• Pin it to remember Best Flour for Dog Treats: Which Should You Use?

When I made changes to my own diet and switched to eating plant-based, whole foods, it only made sense that I started to rethink what I fed my dog, Benny. After all, he’s my baby, my little boy, my heart. So I changed his diet to consist of healthy, whole foods as well, and every day, I prepare his dinner along with mine. Benny is very picky, so finding biscuits and treats that were healthy as well as appealing to him was a bit harder. I decided I needed to learn how to make Benny yummy dog treats at home.

There are a lot of benefits to making your own dog treats: you get to control what ingredients go into them; you can avoid all the preservatives, additives, fillers, and byproducts; you can cater to any of your dog’s dietary restrictions, and you can choose the flavor combinations your pooch loves most. With all of the recalls on dog treats these days, there is nothing more comforting and rewarding than knowing you are giving your fur baby treats that are healthy, safe, and of course, filled with love.

Making homemade dog treats is an easy way to show your dog some extra love. Just be aware of which ingredients may be toxic to dogs such as macadamia nuts, grapes, raisins, chocolate, apple seeds, and large amounts of onion and garlic. Every dog is different, so please check with your veterinarian to see which ingredients are suitable for your dog.

1. Choose a Base

Any flour can be used to make dog biscuits, but why not go for the healthiest choices? Whole-wheat flour and whole-wheat pastry flour are good choices. If your dog needs to avoid wheat, choose gluten-free flours like chickpea, sorghum, or oat flour. Adding oats is a good way to add fiber and chewiness to the treats. When I make Benny’s Peanut Butter Biscuits, I use a blend of whole-wheat pastry flour, sorghum flour, almond meal, and rolled oats. To make them gluten-free, I would just replace the whole-wheat flour with more sorghum flour or high-protein chickpea flour. I find that I don’t need to add any baking powder, baking soda, or egg replacers to get biscuits that have a texture that is crunchy on the outside and a bit chewy on the inside.

2. Choose Your Flavors

You can choose any combination of healthy foods to put into your biscuits. Fruits and veggies that are safe include apples, bananas, berries, broccoli, carrots, celery, citrus (without the seeds), eggplant, green beans, kale, melons (without the seeds), potatoes, spinach, squash, tomatoes, watermelon (without the seeds), and zucchini. Peanut butter is a popular choice for dogs – they love it and it has natural sweetness. Dogs can’t have chocolate, but they can have carob, which has a similar taste. It comes in powdered form or you can add carob chips to your cookies. Add a pinch of cinnamon for extra flavor. Whole grains such as oats and brown rice are good additions. A quick way to add flavors you know your dog already likes is to put a spoon or two of her favorite prepared dog food in your biscuit mix. By mixing and matching ingredients, the variety of treats you can create is endless.

3. Sweet or Savory

Dog biscuits can be sweet, savory, or both. When I make Benny biscuits that are on the sweet side, I add a small amount of molasses or maple syrup and a hint of pure vanilla extract. Those ingredients complement his favorite flavors of carob and peanut butter. He also loves savory biscuits filled with sweet potato, carrots, spinach, or kale. When I make these more savory treats, I use vegan “beef” or “chicken” flavored broth instead of water for an even more appealing smell and taste. Of course, you can use your imagination and mix carrots and peanut butter or spinach and banana to make unique treats that satisfy your dog’s sweet and savory taste buds.

4. Lovin’ in the Oven

Once the dough is mixed for the special treats, the fun really begins. That’s when I break out my cookie cutters to make fun shapes for the biscuits. I know you’re thinking that’s really more for me than for Benny, but I’m sure he appreciates his cookies having fun shapes like bones, hearts and kitty cats. To make it easier, however, you could just roll the dough out on a flat baking sheet and use a knife to cut it into squares before baking. I bake the biscuits, which are small 2-inch cookies, for 18 minutes at 400 degrees, until they are hardened and crisp. Larger biscuits will take a bit longer. Alternatively, they can be cooked on the stove top in a dry pan over medium-low heat until they are crisp. Store them in a covered food container and if they have frosting, keep them in the fridge.

5. Decorating With Icing

While the decorations and designs may be for us humans, our dogs do love the taste of the frosting or icing. Of course, we don’t want our dogs to get too many sweets, but a little bit as a treat is fine. Ingredients you can use to make icing include non-dairy yogurt, vegan cream cheese, carob, banana, peanut butter, pureed fruits and veggies and even mashed potatoes. A simple recipe is to mix yogurt with peanut butter or cream cheese. If you need it thicker, add a tablespoon of flour at a time until it’s the desired consistency. Add vanilla, cinnamon, carob or parsley for enhanced flavors and colors. Once you mix up the icing, you can spread it on the cooled biscuits with a flat knife or use a pastry bag. If you don’t have a pastry bag, you can just spoon it into a plastic baggie, snip the tip off the end, and squeeze the icing out however you want to decorate with it.

Making dog treats at home is a fun and loving thing to do for your furry best friend. Once you start making cute shapes and decorating them with icing, you can make special treats for your dog’s birthday or “gotcha” day. Before you know it, you’ll be giving bags of homemade dog goodies to all your friends and tails will be wagging all around you. Oh, and because they are made with whole foods, your dog might be willing to share one with you. Woof!

Image source: Homemade Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits

Deciding to make your own dog treats for your pup can have many benefits. Making dog treats allows you to perfectly customize the flavor and texture to your dog’s preferences, saves money, and controls exactly what goes into the treats.

Many dog treat recipes call for some kind of flour. The trouble is, there are well over 30 types of flour on the market today, each with its own unique characteristics and profile.

Not all flours are created equal, especially when it comes to the health and nutrition of your pet. In this article, we will break down everything you need to know about choosing the best flour for dog treats.

How to Store Flours

For all-purpose flour and other general flours, storing them inside the freezer or fridge in an airtight container will keep pests out. These flours will last for up to a year.

If that sounds like too much work, don’t feel bad about keeping all-purpose flour in your pantry. It won’t last as long, but as long as no direct sunlight hits your storage area, the flour will be just fine.

Whole grain flours have a much more limited shelf-life than processed, bleached flours. This is because whole wheat flours have a much higher fat content than white flour. In your pantry, whole wheat flour lasts only for about three months. Putting it in the fridge or freezer will add an extra few months.

Nut flours have the highest fat content of any flour, meaning they spoil the quickest. It is generally the best idea to keep nut flours in the fridge or freezer because of their limited shelf life. In the freezer, some nut flours can last up to a year.

Hard Wheat vs. Soft Wheat

Flour is made from ground wheat, but two types of wheat greatly affect how the flour performs. These two types are hard wheat and soft wheat.

Hard wheat is very high in protein and gluten. This makes hard wheats like bread flour perfect for strong doughs, like for a bread recipe.

As the name suggests, soft wheat is more delicate than hard wheat. Compared to hard wheat, soft wheat is lower in gluten and protein. This makes it perfect for recipes like angel food cake but not necessary for most dog treats.

Combining Flours

Combining different types of flours in your dog treats can allow you to create interesting flavor and nutritional profiles.

For instance, coconut flour is hard to bake on its own due to its high absorbency. Mixing coconut flour with whole wheat flour can fix this.

Mixing brown rice flour with sorghum flour can make dog treats that are well-rounded, nutty, and healthy.

Similarly, mixing dark buckwheat flour with coconut or oat flour can help reduce grittiness in dog treats.

Most Common Flours

All-purpose flour, bread flour, cake flour, self-rising flour and whole wheat flour are among the most popular and readily available flours in your local supermarket.

But are these the best flours for baking dog treats?

For humans, these flours are very versatile and great for all sorts of baking applications. However, some of these flours aren’t the best for dogs because most of the nutrition is taken out of them in the bleaching process.

All-Purpose Flour

All-purpose flour (AP) is the most versatile type of flour on the market due to its mid-range protein and gluten content. It can be used in almost any application. However, to achieve this flexibility, the grains in AP flour are stripped of their healthy bits. In addition, many AP flours are bleached, further reducing nutrition. Because of this, AP flour is generally not the best choice for dog treats. AP flour is not gluten-free.

Bread Flour

Bread flour has a very high level of protein and gluten compared to other types of flour. Bread flour can replace most flours in an equal ratio. Bread flour isn’t great for dog treats because bread flour is usually used to make perishable products like scones. Bread flour is not gluten-free.

Cake Flour

Cake flour produces light baked goods to produce cakes and pancakes. Because of its similarities to AP flour, cake flour isn’t a great choice for dog treats. Unless, of course, you are making your dog a birthday cake! Cake flour is not gluten-free.

Self Rising Flour

Self-rising flour is just AP flour with baking powder, and salt added, so it is not a great choice for dogs. Self-rising flour is usually used for recipes like biscuits that need help getting fluffy. Self-rising flour is not gluten-free.

Whole Wheat Flour

Whole wheat flour contains tons of proteins and glutens, as well as vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and more. It can essentially be used just like AP flour. This makes whole wheat flour an excellent choice for dog treats. Whole wheat flour is not gluten-free.

Alternative Flours

Alternative flours may be harder to find, but many of them are perfect for dog treats. Alternative flour can usually be found at specialty stores (and online). Almost all alternative flours are very nutritious for dogs and gluten-free.

Almond Flour

Almond flour doesn’t contain as much nutrition as almonds but is still a good choice for dog treats due to its high vitamin and healthy fat content. Almond flour gives some dogs upset stomachs and can be tough to bake with. Almond flour is gluten-free.

Amaranth Flour

Amaranth flour is a pseudo-grain flour that is very good for dogs. It contains fiber, vitamins, and energy restoring compounds. Amaranth is easy to bake with and gluten-free.

Barley Flour

Barley flour is similar to whole wheat flour and can be used in dog treats. Some dogs may get upset stomachs from barley. Barley flour can make hard dog treats like granola. It is not gluten-free.

Brown Rice Flour

Brown rice flour is high in fiber, calcium, and other vitamins. It is great for dogs. Brown rice flour can make dog treats slightly gritty and heavy when baking. Brown rice flour is naturally gluten-free.

Buckwheat Flour

Buckwheat flour can be used for dog treats because of its high nutritional level. But, like brown rice flour, buckwheat flour is very gritty and can be tricky to bake with. It is naturally gluten-free.

Chickpea Flour

Chickpea flour is made from garbanzo beans and is great for dogs. It is one of the most nutrient-dense flours on the market. Chickpea flour is gluten-free.

Coconut Flour

Coconut flour is minimally processed and high in nutrition, perfect for dogs. It can be tough to bake with because of its very high levels of absorbency. Coconut flour is gluten-free.

Corn Flour

Corn flour, also known as masa harina, isn’t great for dog treats because it isn’t typically used to make biscuits or cookies. Usually, masa harina is mixed with water to make tortillas. It is gluten-free.

Flaxseed Flour

Flaxseed flour is great for dogs because it is rich in fiber and other essential nutrients. It is very high in fat, so flaxseed flour can be used without eggs or oil. Flaxseed four is gluten-free.

Millet Flour

Millet flour has a ton of nutrition, but it isn’t great for dog treats because millet flour needs to be mixed with AP flour before baking. Millet flour is gluten-free.

Oat Flour

Oat flour is made of ground oats and is great for dogs with sensitive stomachs. Oat flour is very moist and can introduce liquid into your treats. Oat flour is gluten-free.

Peanut Flour

Peanut flour is not usually used for baking because it is made up solely of crushed peanuts. But, it can be used as a flavoring agent in dog treats. Peanut flour is gluten-free.

Potato Flour

Potato flour is hard to bake with but is technically safe for dogs. It is probably best to avoid potato flour for dog treats in favor of a more hearty flour. Potato flour is gluten-free.

Quinoa Flour

Quinoa flour is easy to bake with but can be tough on a dog’s stomach. Because of this, it isn’t the best choice for making dog treats. But, if your dog shows no resistance, quinoa flour is an option. Quinoa is gluten-free.

Rye Flour

Rye flour is similar to whole wheat or AP flour in its uses. Rye flour is okay for dogs but is usually used for making more perishable items. Rye flour is not gluten-free.

Semolina Flour

Semolina flour is very high in protein, which makes it dense and chewy. But, semolina is rarely baked with, instead being used for pasta. So, semolina isn’t great for dog treats. Semolina flour isn’t gluten-free.

Sorghum Flour

Sorghum flour is high in nutrients and safe for dogs. But, if your dog is sensitive to grains, sorghum is a bad choice. It needs a binder to be baked with. Sorghum flour is gluten-free.

Soy Flour

Soy flour is rich and nutritious. However, it is not a good choice for dogs since many are allergic to soy. Soy flour is gluten-free.

Sprouted Flour

Sprouted flour is just any whole grain flour that has been “sprouted” to give it extra nutrition. Dogs can have sprouted flour, and it’s great for adding extra nutrition. Sprouted rice is only gluten-free if the grain used in it is gluten-free.

Spelt Flour

Spelt flour is a great dog-friendly replacement for AP flour because it’s easy to bake with. But, dogs should be given spelt in moderation. Spelt is not gluten-free.

Teff Flour

Teff flour is full of iron and calcium and great for dogs. Teff is easy to bake with and good for sensitive canine stomachs. Teff flour is gluten-free.

Vital Wheat Gluten Flour

Vital wheat gluten flour is a good substitute for AP flour. It can be used very widely but is full of antioxidants and vitamins. It is very dog friendly. Vital wheat gluten flour is not gluten-free.

White Rice Flour

Compared to brown rice flour, white rice flour has much less nutritional value. It is fine for making dog treats, but it makes more sense to use brown rice flour instead because of its vitamins and minerals. White rice flour is gluten-free.

Pin it to remember Best Flour for Dog Treats: Which Should You Use?