The Anatomy of Treats 101

My first blog post! This is new to me, and I am excited to share my adventures running The Equine Bakery. I started when I was 13 years old and because of my outstanding clients, I will celebrate FIVE years of baking this May. So, what better place to start than with the Treat itself?

The Dough - I knew from day one that the ingredients had to be as natural as possible and, obviously, safe for horses. I started with a basic recipe and then batch after batch came up with one that I loved! I learned that so many products can be safe for us but not for horses. I worked with our local veterinarians right up to the FEI level gaining their approval of my choices. I avoided adding sugar, water, other grains or seeds. I also avoided the "known" ingredients that could possibly create a false positive on a drug test. I baked a TON of Treats before launching The Bakery; working to find the mix I liked best. Eureka! I reached my first goal - my Dough! Simple, fresh, ingredients: Flour, Fancy Molasses, Natural Peppermint Oil. The combination of these three ingredients was tricky because I was also working towards wanting ... a softer Treat. More on that below!

Alongside developing the dough, I bought lots and lots of Treats to see what I liked best and one thing I wanted to work on was fewer crumbs, so a softer bake. Figured that out with baking time, temperatures and oven rack levels. Again... baked a lot of Treats! I set off the smoke detector a few times! Softer bake accomplished!

The last details were thickness and size. I wanted a thicker Treat, so large cut Treats are 3/8" thick. Large Treats are on average 3" long. The Minis are a tad thinner and can be 2" long.

Can we eat them? You bet! The Bakery always smells sweet, almost like Christmas with the molasses baking, so I have munched on more than a few. I love hearing stories of riders sharing them with their horses. "You know they’re good when your daughter always taste tests each treat first" It means a lot to know that riders like them too.

Wow! There it is! My first Blog Post. If you have ideas for a post, email me at 1equinebakery@gmail.com

Thank you for reading.

Kaya

xo

Pictured below: A Classic! Large Cut Ribbon