February 9th is National Pizza Day! What better way to celebrate than with a pizza pie as big as the SKY!
Though, pizza isn’t the best food for dogs to have (a snack of a bit of crust here and there is ok!) so we need to create a dog friendly pizza!
The ingredients for the crust:
- Oat flour
- Yeast
- Eggs
- Baking powder
- Olive Oil
ALL of which are ok for dogs to eat! BUT… DO NOT feed you dog any of the raw, uncooked dough! The raw yeast creates carbon dioxide when it rises – which is not good in a dog’s tummy!
Now for toppings:
- Pizza sauce – no, but tomatoes yes (see below)
- Onions – TOXIC to dogs
- Pepperoni – too much sodium, AVOID!
- Sausage – the unseasoned kind a little in moderation, can be quite salty otherwise!
- Olives – yes, good for dogs!
- Mushrooms – yes, dogs can eat, store bought only!
- Bacon – skip, too salty and too fatty!
- Canadian Bacon – skip, too salty!
- Ham – also skip as it is too salty
- Green Pepper – good for dogs!
- Cheese – yes!
Skip the pizza sauce as most contain added sugars, salt, and different spices. Instead you can use ripe tomatoes, tomato puree or crushed tomatoes as long as they don’t contain any additional spices. Avoid tomato sauce as it typically contains onion powder and garlic powder – both are BAD for dogs!
If you give your dog ripe tomatoes as a treat, avoid giving any of the leaves, stem and an unripe or green tomatoes as these are toxic to dogs! (Tomatoes are in the nightshade family as are eggplant, potatoes and peppers!).
While processed meats typically found on pizza are out, unseasoned cooked meats like chicken, turkey, beef and steak are totally ok! You can also add tuna, salmon, shrimp or crab! Ample options for a robust pup friendly pizza! Make a simple cheese or cheese + meat pizza or go for a fully loaded dog friendly supreme pizza!
Onward to the recipe!
Dog Friendly Pizza
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 2-3 cups oat flour
- 2 tbsp warm water
- 1 pkg instant yeast
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1-2 tbsp olive oil
For the sauce:
- unseasoned tomato puree or crushed tomatoes
For the toppings, add as many as you desire!
- cheese - cheddar or mozzarella
- meat - chicken, turkey, beef, steak, pork
- seafood - shrimp, crab, fish, salmon
- veggies - green peppers, olives, mushrooms
Instructions
Making the pizza crust:
- Add flour to bowl.
- Activate the yeast per the packet instructions.
- Once activated add the yeast to the flour.
- Add eggs, baking powder and salt.
- Use spatula to combine, knead for 2 minutes or until dough is formed. The ideal consistency of the dough should be soft and slightly tacky.
- ** Add more water if needed (oat flour does tend to soak up moisture).
- ** Add more flour if needed, dough should be soft and slightly tacky.
- Cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap and allow to rest for 20-30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Dust rolling surface with oat flour. Divide dough in half and roll out dough to desired shape and size.
- Transfer to pan for cooking. You can use a pan, pizza stone or cast iron pan.
- Brush with olive oil, let rest again before adding toppings.
- ** If you'd like, you can blink bake the crust without toppings for 5 minutes.
Add the toppings:
- The ideal is to NOT overload the crust otherwise it will become soggy!
- Smear on some sauce (this will be dependent on the size of your pizza - more for a larger pie, less for a smaller pie). Add the toppings of your dog's liking.
- Put into the oven and cook for 10 minutes, or until the cheese begins to brown and get crispy.
- ** Cooking time might be longer depending on the size and depth of your pizza. Start at 10 minutes and check. The ideal is melty cheese that is browning.
Let cool to room temp, cut into slices or squares and give to your dog!
Notes
I totally forgot to put olive oil on the crust before the ingredients, whoops!
The crust didn’t really brown and had a dense, cracker like consistency. Not sure if it was a boo boo on my end with the yeast or if that’s what an oat flour is going to produce.
The dough def needed more water – the 2 tablespoons didn’t go very far, nor did the 2 eggs for moisture. I think I added roughly 3/4 cup of water (using a dry measuring cup… bwhahahaha!) to get the dough to the proper consistency as noted in the recipe.
I made a 2nd pizza that was for me. It required more time (25 minutes for cheese starting to brown). It didn’t rest as long as Blue’s pizza and when I un-panned it the crust was rather soggy and smelt a little like a wet dog treat. I ate the cheesy toppings and tossed the crust. (This was also a heavier loaded pizza than the one for Blue which could have also made a difference.)
I’ll stick to regular flour for my crust haha!
Blue was quite excited to eat a piece of pizza all of his own!