Seitan is strange.
Seitan is amazing.
I must perfect my seitan recipe!
Last night saw my first fully documented attempt to make this miracle stuff from scratch, after an initial try with my friend Lisa that turned out great, and a couple subsequent tries that came out awful. I was attributing the problem to Lisa-magic and lack thereof, but I've decided to go more scientific instead.
Definition & theory, fyi: Seitan is a vegetarian protein, essentially the isolated protein of wheat, which is called gluten--all whole grains contain protein in some amount, but it usually is not easily processed by the body unless matched with other things, i.e. legumes, nuts. Seitan is chewy and can be made to mimic meat in texture and interaction with sauces, etc. more closely than the the other "substitute" proteins most commonly available to vegetarians, tempeh and tofu.
According to my recipe trawls and experience, you can make seitan from basically 2 ingredients: vital wheat gluten flour and water, plus of course a little salt. Most recipes suggest using amino acid mix, which I suppose completes the protein content, and most also include some nutritional yeast. I've made it without the latter, and it still feels filling and satisfying, and I think some recipes just call for regular soy sauce--but I'm not an expert on how these might affect the digestibility of the gluten. All other ingredients are optional. Baking soda is supposed to affect texture, though so far this member of the jury is out on that one. Tomato paste is supposed to lend a more beefy flavor--I wouldn't know. Other stuff is all about how you want to flavor it.
The results of this round are pretty good! So...drumroll....
FIVE-HERB SEITAN
Iry Ingredients
1 c vital wheat gluten flour -- n.b. NOT a real "flour" though it looks like it...make sure you get exactly this thing. Bob's Red Mill has one if you can't find it in bulk.
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp ea. fennel and cumin seeds, crushed in a baggie with rolling pin or mortar/pestle
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/4 c chopped fresh herb mix: basil, chive, thyme, rosemary
Wet Ingredients
3/4 c. water
2 Tbs amino acid mix (e.g. Braggs)
2 Tbs tomato paste
Method:
First, mix dry ingredients together, and then whisk wets together. Make a well in the dry, and pour the wet in all at once, stir with a spoon for a moment and then knead with hands another moment. It will all congeal together so quickly and decisively that you won't really be able to to much more than that. These proportions created the most workable dough I've met so far. Still takes some effort to cut, but actually shapable and not as difficult to cut/tear as previous attempts.
[Shaped into a log and pressed under a plate and some weights for 15 minutes. I'd read this squeezes out excess water, but it didn't seem to, and I couldn't tell any difference from the previous times when I had not used this step.]
Cut into little pieces. Bread or other deeply serrated knife works best.
Boil up some veggie broth (I made mine with garlic, the same fresh herb mix, and oil as the base, with potato water and lemongrass). Drop the seitan chunks in and then remove with a slotted spoon when the bob up to the top, and drain on paper towels. [This time the chunks also rose almost immediately, which would be 2 or 3 seconds faster than the last times I did the recipe--suspect the baking powder at work, but not sure.]
Now you've got basic seitan. BUT, what I was beginning to suspect from my previous attempts was that in order for it to be other than completely rubbery you have to pick another cooking method. So I divided into 2 batches. One I baked on an oiled sheet in the toaster oven at 350 for 30 min. One I breaded in egg white, cornmeal, and nutritional yeast, and shallow-fried.
Important: Let seitan cool thoroughly before eating. It remains oddly rubbery and gluey until quite cool. This time, I made soup with the broth, but another good tip is to boil it down into a gravy. Must ask Lisa for her gravy recipe...
Results: Altogether, still a little chewier than I'd like, but texture is acceptable, and flavor is SuperGood.
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