Dog biscuits: The Recipe

I made some more dog biscuit dough yesterday, and this time I measured everything, and kept track of what I did. So here it is, because I know Linus wants some. It's kind of complicated and putzy, but you love your dog, right?

I did this the old-fashioned way, meaning I dissolved the yeast in about half a cup of warm water (about 110 degrees F) with one sugar cube and then let it stand until it's all foamy & bubbly. When you do it this way, it's important that everything else is about room temperature (or a little warmer, if you're like me) so that when you add the yeast you don't kill it. The modern sort of bread machine influenced way to do it is to add the yeast to the (room temperature) dry ingredients and then have the liquid ingredients a little hotter when you add them (I guess about 120-130 degrees F). Never tried it, but if you feel more comfortable doing it that way, go right ahead.

Also: The recipe below calls for 1 cup of cooked grain cereal. I used a cup of Ruby's special chow, which I made the other day by cooking oatmeal and rice in some leftover chicken soup with extra chicken broth. But if you have a cup of cooked rice left over, or oatmeal, or millet, or seven-grain cereal, or whatever, you can use that. If you have to cook something up just for this recipe, cook it in broth or stock; throw in some shredded vegetables (my dogs have seemed to especially like carrots and apples, but this is also a good way to get rid of any bits of leftover meat and/or vegetables), add some canned pumpkin at the end. You'll probably have more than a cup of it, but you can freeze it for the next time, or just add a small scoop of it on top of the dog's kibble every morning.

So here we go:

Dissolve 1 packet or 1 Tbsp. dry yeast in 1/2 cup warm water with 1 sugar cube. Set in a warm, still place for a while. I actually used a little more than a Tbsp, but less than you'd get in two packets.

While that's going on, combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl -- not the one you'll use in the mixer (if you're using a mixer). You'll need at least 8 cups, and some of it should be white flour. You may need a little more than 8 cups. Don't have a flour sifter? Me neither. I just put it through a wire mesh colander. You could also just stir it all up with a fork so that it's more or less evenly blended. Here's what I used this time, but last time I included bits of rye flour and millet flour and cornmeal and buckwheat flour and rolled oats and whatever else I had in the freezer taking up space.

• 4 cups all-purpose white flour
• 3-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup wheat germ

In the mixing bowl, combine the wet ingredients. If you're using a fancy mixer, you'll want to use the dough hook eventually, so you might as well start out with it. You can also just mix this up with a spoon or whisk or whatever. And again, make sure that they are room temperature or slightly warmer:

• 1 cup chicken stock* (of course I use homemade stock, which I have in the freezer, but you can use canned or boxed -- salt free! -- broth or stock
• 1 cup milk*
• 1 cup cooked grain/cereal (oatmeal, rice, 7-grain cereal, millet -- even leftover polenta)
• 1/4 cup shortening, butter, or lard
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp. garlic powder (NOT garlic salt)
• 1 grated apple (optional)
• 1 grated carrot (optional)
• 1/4 cup brewer's yeast (optional)

* You can use slightly more, like, say a can of broth and a can of evaporated milk, but you'll probably have to add more flour.

When that's all combined, and neither too hot nor too cold, add the yeast (remember the yeast? it should be all foamy and smelly by now), stir for a bit, and then add a couple of cups of the flour mixture. Keep adding the flour, 1/2 a cup at a time, until you've added about 6-1/2 cups. By this time, it will take a few minutes to incorporate each additional scoop of flour. Make sure that it's well blended in before adding the next scoop. Which, keep adding more until the dough leaves the sides of the bowl and starts to get smooth and elastic. You might need to knead in the last few scoops by hand. It should be a fairly stiff dough, not sticky at all. Keep kneading and every once in a while sort of pick it up and slam it onto the work surface and slap it a few times.

If you've baked bread by hand before, you'll know when it's ready to stop kneading and start the first rising. When you pinch it gently, it feels sort of like an earlobe, and it will keep the shape for a bit but start to spread back out right away. When you slap it, it feels kind of heavy and dense, but springy.

Place the dough in an oiled bowl and oil the surface of the dough. Cover with a clean towel or cloth napkin and leave in a warm, still place for at least an hour. I usually turn the oven on to low for about five minutes, and then turn it off while I am still kneading, then I put the dough in there to rise, with the light on. Remember to turn it off, though.

After an hour or so, check on it; it should be twice as large as it was when you put it in there. It's ready when you poke two fingers into it -- about to the first knuckle -- and the indentation stays. This part is fun: Punch the center of the dough and watch it collapse. Then knead it again, just for a few minutes. If it is at all sticky at this point, incorporate some more flour, 1/4 cup at a time, as you knead. If it seems too dry and floury, sprinkly a Tbsp. or so of olive oil on it as you knead.

At this point, I divided the dough into four equal pieces. I put three of them into plastic freezer bags and tossed them into the freezer.** I put the remaining piece into a smaller oiled bowl and put it into the fridge because I had to go do something for a few hours. You could also put it back in the warm place and let it rise again right away. It won't take as long to double in size this time, but when it does, punch it down and roll it out on a floury cutting board or other work surface. It should be about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch thick.

If you have a dog biscuit-shaped cookie cutter, use it to cut them out, and then quickly place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet. You can put them fairly close together. You can use any old cookie cutter, or just take a knife and cut them into little rectangles or whatever shape you want. They're kind of hard to break, so you might want to make them bite-sized from the start.

You'll notice that once they're on the cookie sheets they start to rise again. Brush the tops with olive oil, or with a mixture of egg white and water, or with milk. Then take a fork and poke holes in the surface of the biscuits, about an inch or so apart. Let them sit on the cookie sheets for about 15-20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 325 F.

Bake them on the center rack for about 45 minutes, then reduce the heat to 250 and bake for another hour or so. Maybe more. They should be crunchy and dry but not very dark brown. Then turn the oven off and just leave them there until they are completely cool. Overnight is fine if it's late and you're bored with this project.

When completely cool, place in an airtight container or zippery freezer bags. They'll keep at least a week or so that way, but if it's going to be much longer than that, keep them in the fridge.

** To thaw them out, if you put them in the freezer, I usually take one out in the morning before I go to work and put it into the refrigerator. Then when I get home, I take it out and put it in an oiled bowl in a warm place and let it rise for a while, then knead a bit and roll it out and proceed as above with cutting out & baking.