Easy Seitan
2 cups Redmill gluten flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Archived comment by: optional spices:
1tbs garlic powder
1tsp onion powder
2 teaspoon cumin
Braggs Liquid Aminos or other soy sauce to add salt
I have done a lot of experimenting to get the texture right, and this is what I have come up with.
Put the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix completely. Add enough liquid that all the flour forms into a ball. knead until there are no dry spots.
Form into whatever shape is desired, I usually end up with 2 thick pancakes.
Put into a pot with boiling water. The seitan will initially sink. It will float to the top, and when it has sunk again, it is cooked and ready for use. This takes between 45 minutes to 1 1/3 hours depending on thickness, elevation and heat.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
I made this tonight for dinner served with some vegan gravy and tofu, and it was pretty good. Though, I must say, it could have been undercooked or overcooked (if that's possible). I made the dough into a log and weighed it down with two encyclopedias and as many chemistry and biology textbooks as I could find but I'm not sure whether that helped so much with the cooking time. It was probably 1/4 of an inch thick before I cooked it and about an hour and 15 minutes later, it still did not sink! It's a great recipe to try for seitan, nonetheless and I'll make it again. Thanks for the recipe!
I've made this about 3 times now and it has been excellent each time. I love how much cheaper it is than buying prepared seitan.
Wow! I've always made seitan with gluten flour and water, never baking powder.. and it's a lovely change! It usually is quite chewy, which is nice but this recipe made if nice and light, easier to eat! I made a "sausage flavoured" broth to boil the seitan in and will be using it for a pizza topping :)
This was my first attempt at making seitan and I must admit it was very easy. I didn't use baking powder as I was trying to attain a denser seitan as opposed to "fluffy." I'm not sure what to think of the results. It has been a long time since I had packaged seitan, but this was definitely spongier than I remember. We boiled it, then bbq'ed half and baked half and our first taste of the BBQ'ed was "wow, weird, this really tastes like pork fat." Or what I remember pork fat tasting like in my mouth.
I plan to use the un-BBQ'ed in a decadent chicken-salad style recipe that I remember from my grandmother.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Lordy, this stuff grows! Do make sure you use a big pot like veggiewedgie says.
Still, it was very good and truly easy to make. For years and years I made gluten from scratch (rinsing whole wheat flour dough) for our traditional Thanksgiving meal, and the result was VERY chewy. You had to cut it with a steak knife. Still we loved it. I think, however, that my homemade gluten years are over. I like this process and result much, much better.
Sammi: The baked version of seitan is usually a bit denser (less fluffy) than the boiled. There are a couple of recipes on this site, such as Mexicali Seitan with Mushrooms.
This was a very interesting experience.
Easy to follow recipe! I think I will omit the baking powder next time, 'cause I think it came out too fluffy, have not tried it yet, letting it cool as I type, maybe it will harden up a tad?
Let me know if this is what everyone else's looked like...
It is possible to make seitan from regular whole wheat flour. You have to make a dough and then rinse it in water to separate the starch from the gluten. I've never done it myself, but this site has several recipes for it--try looking at the one titled "Home-made Seitan."
i'm about 99% sure wholemeal flour won't work for this, cos it won't have enough gluten in it. i never saw gluten flour when i lived in the uk either, but you can find it pretty easily over here on the canadian side of the pond.
according to a website i found, someone else from the uk searched for ages to find it, and said this was the best place to get it:
http://www.flourbin.com where its sold as GLUTEN POWDER, and you get 500g for £1.20 which aint bad! (dunno how much postage is though) otherwise they suggested trying a 'weigh and save' or similar bulk food store with scoops and bins (if that makes sense) or other low carb webstores like: http://www.lowcarbmegastore.com/ which sells 1kg of 'wheatgluten powder' (sounds like the same thing) for £2.30. hope this helps- i'm 'gluten free' though, so i'm probably not the worlds biggest expert on the subject.
Is gluten flour wholemeal flour? I'm in U.K. and can't remember seeing any flour sold as gluten flour. Thanks.
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