Sourdough Dog Treats
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You may have read that sourdough can be dangerous for your dog to consume, but these sourdough dog treats are both safe and delicious for your precious pooch.
With uncooked sourdough bread being very dangerous for your dog and cooked sourdough, while being delicious, not providing them with required nutrients, these sourdough dog treats are an easy way to share the sourdough love with your dog.
Did you know that you can also feed your sourdough discard to your backyard chickens? And use it to fertilise your indoor plants and gardens?
They also make a thoughtful gift for friends with dogs.
Why Can't Dogs Eat Sourdough?
Dogs cannot eat sourdough because it's a fermented product.
Giving dogs uncooked sourdough starter or uncooked sourdough can be fatal at worst, and at best make your dog very, very sick.
Check out my guide on what to do if your dog has eaten uncooked sourdough or sourdough bread. You'll also find the symptoms to look for.
Can Dogs Eat Sourdough Treats?
Yes, sourdough treats are a much better option than giving them sourdough bread itself. Sourdough bread provides dogs with no nutritional value.
Sourdough treats however contain added nutrients from egg, peanut butter, pumpkin and oats.
They are a much better way to share the sourdough love with your dog.
You should not give your dog sourdough treats if they have allergies or sensitivities to wheat as this is the main ingredient.
Like anything "treat", sourdough dog treats should be given occasionally and should not form part of their regular diet.
How To Make Sourdough Dog Treats
Sourdough dog treats are very easy to make. They use a few simple pantry staples to create a delicious sourdough dog biscuit.
You can choose whether you use canned or homemade pumpkin puree.
Here's how to make sourdough dog biscuits:
- Add the wet ingredients to a large bowl and whisk together to form a smooth batter.
- Add rolled oats and mix through until thoroughly coated.
- Add the whole wheat flour and bring together into a rough dough.
- Turn onto a floured surface and press out into a rough rectangle.
- Roll out to around ¼" thick.
- Dust the dough with flour.
- Using a cookie cutter, cut shapes from the dough.
- Place the dough shapes onto a baking tray lined with baking paper.
- Spray lightly with olive oil.
- Bake in a moderate oven until golden brown.
- Allow to cool on a rack before sharing one with your dog.
Tips for the Best Sourdough Dog Treats
While this recipe is super simple to make, there are a few things you can do to make sure you get the best treats for your pampered pooch.
- Make sure you use natural peanut butter with no added sugar or salt. You could even make your own peanut butter if you have a powerful food processor.
- Try to add some of the oil from the peanut butter into the mixture for extra goodness.
- You can use sourdough discard if you have some to use up or active sourdough starter - whatever is easy for you.
- If the dough is too sticky, just add some extra whole wheat flour and bring it together. Depending on the consistency of your pumpkin puree and sourdough starter, you may need up to 100g extra flour to form the dough.
- Spray with a little olive oil before baking to give them a nice golden color once baked.
- The treats will crisp up as they cool so don't worry if they seem a little soft in the middle. You can turn them over and bake for an extra 5 minutes if you feel they need them.
What Flour Is Best For Dog Treats?
It's best to use whole wheat flour when making sourdough dog treats. This ensures that you're giving your pooch the most nutrient dense food you can.
You can really use any type of flour, however, if you are wanting to give your dog the best, you should choose the healthiest flour possible.
If you don't want to use wheat flour, you could of course substitute any type of flour you have on hand. Chickpea, coconut or even almond flour are good, nutrient dense choices for dog treats.
Using Pumpkin Puree in Dog Treats
Using pumpkin in dog treats is a great way to add extra fibre.
Some of the other benefits of pumpkin for dogs are:
- supports digestive health (high in fibre)
- it promotes good urinary health
- pumpkin seeds can be a natural remedy for worms and parasites
- good source of antioxidants and vitamins including Vitamin A, C, zinc and magnesium.
It's very important that if you're using canned pumpkin puree, you use pure pumpkin puree with no additives - not pie filling.
It's very easy to make your own pumpkin puree. In fact for the purposes of these dog treats, you can just microwave some pumpkin (or sweet potato) and mash it with a fork once soft.
I used my Thermomix (thermal cooker) to make the puree for these treats. It took just 10 minutes. I used a mixture of pumpkin and sweet potato because that's what I had on hand.
Further Reading
If you enjoyed making these sourdough doggie treats, you might enjoy these ideas:
- Find a tonne of other no wait sourdough recipes here - perfect for when you have starter, but no time!
- Want to bake the something truly delicious? Check out this delicious honey oat sourdough bread recipe.
- Easy pumpkin sourdough bread - perfect for the cooler months!
Sourdough Dog Treats
Equipment
- Cookie Cutter (Bone or Paw Print for some fun)
- Rolling Pin
- Baking Tray
Ingredients
- 180 g Sourdough Starter can be active, fed or discard
- 2 Eggs
- 150 g Pumpkin Puree or sweet potato puree
- 80 g Peanut Butter natural, unsweetened, unsalted
- 100 g Rolled Oats
- 200 g Whole Wheat Flour have some extra on hand just in case
- Pumpkin Seeds optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
- Mix all of the wet ingredients together into a large bowl. Use a fork to whisk them together into a smooth batter (include the peanut butter).
- Stir the rolled oats through the batter until they are coated.
- Now, add the whole wheat flour and bring together to form a rough dough. It doesn't have to be smooth and will be a little sticky.
- Once the dough has come together, sprinkle a clean surface with some whole wheat flour.
- Tip the dough out onto the floured counter and press out with your finger tips. If the dough is sticky on top, dust it with some whole wheat flour.
- Use a rolling pin to lightly roll it into a rough rectangle. It should be around ¼" thick. The dough won't rise much in the oven, so you don't want to roll it too thin.
- Sprinkle the top of the dough with flour and use a cookie cutter to cut out as many pieces as you can. You can re roll the dough out to cut more pieces.
- Place the pieces onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
- If you would like to use pumpkin seeds, lightly brush or spray the dough with water and sprinkle on desired seeds.
- Spray the biscuits lightly with olive oil.
- Place dog treats into the oven and bake at 180C/350F for around 20 minutes until golden. If you feel they aren't quite baked through, you can turn them over and pop them back into the oven for 5 minutes.
- Cool on a wire rack. They will crisp up a little as they cool.
Nutrition
My dogs love these, and I use organic baby food in different flavors to change them up. Everytime I start bread my dogs think I’m baking their treats now. Thanks for all your great recipes!!
That is too cute! Dogs are so smart. I’m going to try these for my Daisey 😊
How long self life?
Made these tonight! Thanks for the awesome recipes 😀
How long do these keep for?
Our pup loved them! Any suggestions on storage and how long they last? Thank you!!!
Wow I’m making these now! I made little training treats and bigger ones, then put in my dehydrated after the oven to dry them out. I don’t want any moisture to mold. Wonderful! I think next time I will double the recipe and use the whole can of pumpkin and only 2 flax eggs. Thank you Pantry Mamma.
Followed the recipe except no peanut butter in the pantry. I added grated carrot and followed all the other ingredients . I found I had to add a lot more flour as the dough was quite sticky ? Also I had to cook them a bit longer.
They turned out ok though.
How long do these last for and can they be left at room temperature?
This is a great recipe. How long do these treats last? And how should they be stored? Thanks!
Made these and my dog is loving them so far! Do these last fine on the counter or should I refrigerate? It will take us a month to go through them most likely. Thanks!
I'm also curious as to how long these last!
Does it have to be whole wheat?
My dog is obsessed with these, so much so that when I give him a choice between these and his special cookies, he 99% of the time chooses these. I use sweet potato, instead of pumpkin and crunchy peanut butter.
What is the safe shelf life?
I have a very picky Yorkshire. He turns his little nose up to almost everything. I made these for him, he loves them! Thank you for this recipe!
I made these for my dog Beau. He loved them!!
These should be labeled dog crack! LOL. I just pull out the ingredients and our small 22# terrier is on top of me watching me the entire time! Somehow she knows I'm making her Treats!! She doesn't even show up when I'm making the SD Pumpkin bread recipe!!
She's on us before the 9pm treat time and after she's has already had them!
LUNA SAYS THESE ARE 4 PAWS UP!!
My little chihuahua loves these treats, he has only 1 tooth and is very old but even after refrigerating them, they are easy to tear into pieces for him. Thanks for this amazing recipe. I even used chunky peanut butter, he loves it!! I used my donut hole cutter and made them into smaller treats.
Do these need to be refrigerated?
Have 4 dogs, what a great way to use the discard. Freja, our Great Dane was so excited about her biscuits, as well as her rescue family .
Thank you for your recipes!
I also purchased your book. Very helpful information...
Thank you so much for purchasing my ebook 🙂 And I'm so glad your Great Dane loves the biscuits xx
Our doggies are loving these treats!
How should I store these? Should I refrigerate ? I know it will take us awhile to get through all the treats
My dog loves these. Making another batch and will keep in refrigerator. He didn't eat them fast enough and they got moldy.
I have an extremely picky bulldog mix, but he loves these! I doubled the recipe and used a 3" bone shaped cookie cutter -- I got close to 100 biscuits out of it! Sent some to friends as a small holiday gift for their puppers. 💜 Will definitely be making these again!
Could I used almond butter instead of peanut butter?
You can. Just make sure it's pure almond butter and doesn't contain ingredients that can be harmful to dogs (like Xylitol or chocolate) 🙂
Do you have aprox measurements if using cups? I don’t have a scale. Thanks.
Any suggestions on replacing the peanut butter with? My dog is on low-fat diet due to heart issues.
The fat is needed in the recipe and will help with the texture. You could try applesauce (just make sure it's plain, unsweetened so it's safe for pups), but we haven't tested it that way.
Love this idea! I have a peanut allergy, do you think they would be okay still if I just took the PB out?
I'd recommend trying almond butter, or another dog safe nut butter, if possible.
My dogs love these
Just made these treats with sweet potatoes and my fur babies loved them. I’ll freeze some and keep some out for them.
Does it have to be whole wheat flour? Is it okay if it's all purpose?
Whole wheat is better in this recipe 🙂
This is one of my most favorite and popular dog treats, however, how can I make them the same texture but without using sourdough starter at all? Do I just increase the amount of flour by 100g to make up for the starter?
I haven't made them without the sourdough starter, but you could try adding 50g of flour and 50g of water to replace it, however then they won't have the fermentation benefits 🙂
How long are they self stable
My dogs LOVE these treats ! With Halloween around the corner , when I add in pumpkin seeds should they be raw or should I bake first and then add them to the dough ?
I would think adding them raw would be fine since they will bake when you bake the doggie treats 🙂
They turned out so good! Curious if they can be kept at room temp or if they need to be refrigerated? Also how long do they generally keep for?
They will keep at room temperature for around a week in an airtight jar 🙂
Hi! Just wondering if you could have a metric change in your recipes for your American followers? Can you add an option for that? Thanks and I love all that you do and thanks for sharing your work!!
I understand your hesitation in using a scale, but I promise it will make things so much easier! Read this article on the benefits of weighing sourdough ingredients 🙂
Made these several times for my dog and her friends and they’re a hit!
Are they okay for cats too?
Hi Mary, I don't believe sourdough is safe for cats.
I've made these many times for my dog and her friends and they're a hit! Are these treats also okay for cats to eat?
I have 2 dogs drooling at my so I will take that as 2 paws up.
This is a go-to recipe for me – I use it every month. I no longer purchase commercial dog biscuits! I feel confident giving these to my pets as I know exactly what went in to creating them. They store well and are adored by my dogs.
I use a pizza cutter to cut them into small squares rather than press with a cookie cutter. This is efficient as I make a double batch.
Can these be made in bulk and frozen to use later?
Yes you can freeze them 🙂 Just thaw at room temperature 🙂