Tasty home-baked dog biscuits can be a tail-wagging treat for the canines you know. And, if you don't have a dog to give a bone to, perhaps you'd enjoy baking some for a friend who does.
Shirley Wright of Baltimore requested a recipe for dog biscuits and writes, "I doubt if your chef would be willing to sample them but that wouldn't be necessary because I'll bake them and try them out on Tasha, my Bouvier des Flandres."
Chef Gilles Syglowski had no problem finding some special tasters of his own. His dogs, Chi Chi and Shena, age 4 and 6, whom the chef says are white Eskimo dogs, were more than willing to sample the entries. "My dogs would look at me in wonder when I offered them so many treats," he said.
Three responses were chosen. T. J. Leeds of Columbia, Jean Partch of Kelso, Wash., and Sally Niemann of Longmont, Colo., sent in the chef's choices.
Niemann's dog treats
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups white flour
1/2 cup quick oats (soaked in warm water, just enough to cover)
1/4 cup corn meal
1/4 cup ground nuts (sunflower or sesame seeds work well)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
4 tablespoons Brewers' yeast
4 tablespoons oil (corn or canola)
water
Combine dry ingredients. Add oil then add enough water to make a stiff dough. Knead. Roll out and cut out in squares or in animal shapes.
Bake 50 minutes in a 325-degree oven.
Substitutions for wheat flour may include oat, rye or other flours. Oats may be substituted with multigrain cereals soaked or dry, or soaked stale crackers, rice cakes or corn chips.
Partch's vegetarian doggie biscuits
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 cup rye flour
2 cups bulgur
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup instant nonfat dry milk
4 teaspoons salt
1 envelope dry yeast
1/4 cup very warm water
2 to 3 cups chicken broth
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
Mix first 7 ingredients together. Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water then add it and 2 cups chicken broth to the flour mixture and mix with your hands until the mixture is stiff. If necessary add the remaining cup of broth a little at a time.
Roll dough out to 1/4 inch thick ness on a floured surface and cut into shapes. Place on ungreased baking sheets. Mix the egg and milk and brush over the biscuits.
Bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes. Then turn off oven and leave biscuits in closed oven overnight. Store in resealable bags.
