seitan3vg6 I made a post on Facebook the other day, and it was concerning carbonara sauce for vegetarians, or vegans. I mentioned that this could be easily accomplished by using – and making – seitan or tofu and dehydrating it in little pieces and frying them up. A good friend of mine asked me for the recipes for the seitan and tofu. I will present the seitan recipe here and do another post for the tofu later, as tofu has so many variations.

Prelude:

When I first made seitan I was more than just a bit of a purist, one might say. I now sayP1070456 a fanatic about lifestyle, with a modicum of heart. Why? Because I bought local red hard winter wheat, that of course was organic. I ground it myself. then I made the seitan. Well for this article, I have come half way, as that is how I would  do it  myself these days. It’s basically the same procedure but the pre-ground flour has just so many more advantages. One that I can think of right off the top is that the gluten is easier to extract. Oh yes, I thought I should add, the reason I stopped making seitan

Note: One can also get gluten flour and you can make seitan in a quarter of the time by just adding water and boiling the mass of gluten. – bri

at home was, that it can do an awful lot of damage to the sewer system. It can clog it right up. Easier to buy the stuff, but not as much fun! It is also not the best nutritionally. But for those that want simulated, homemade, organic bacon bits, seems to me the best way to go.

Basic Seitan Recipe:

Now, if your like me, you want organic, so consider this an organic experience. You can take as much or as little flour as you like or need. I used to go more by ratio than precise measurements. I will try to get the measurements as close to true here as possible, but it is manly in the look and feel of the dough, you might want to call it.

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Equipment:

  • • 4 litre or so, stainless steel or ceramic cooking pot.
  • • One very large bowl
  • • A very good kitchen with good sink and
    hearty clean pipes.
  • • A large sieve

Ingredients:

1 k organic bread flour
475 ml clean clear water

Savoury Herbs to taste – i.e.
few ml extra virgin olive oil, to coat the bottom of pot.

More water for broth, about 1.5 to 2 litres.

Instructions:

As I stated earlier, I go more by ratio and eye than measure on this, as it is not rocket science. I would start with about 375ml, or so, of liquid. Add another, maybe 100 mls water to that, a little at a time, working it in until you get a fairly wet dough.

 

Once your dough is formed, into what basically looks like a bread dough, although a bit wetter, not much however, you can let it sit for about 20 min or so. Raymond Calvel, the authority on bread making in France Recommends, This helps the development of the gluten. The gluten is exactly what it is we are after, as that is what our seitan is.

Broth:

While the dough is sitting you can put your pot on the stove at medium heat. Start chopping some onions, and preparing some herbs – i.e. herbs de Provence , rosemary, sage, pepper. I wouldn’t suggest salt at this stage, as I am unsure of the effect on the seitan. Add water to about ¾ full and heat to low boil.

Back to the Dough:

Once the dough has set for 20 minutes, take it and work it a while longer, until you feel that it has developed full potential as far as gluten development. In other words, if you keep on kneading and it doesn’t get any stiffer, then we go to the next step.

 

 

 

 

 

Next Step:

Take the dough, in the bowl, over to the sink and place the bowl, slightly tilted into the sink. Then start, slowly, running cool water – not too cold as your hands will be in it, but too not hot either. As the water runs, keep on kneading the dough and letting the bran flow into the sieve. This will catch much of the bran, that you can put into another bowl, or container if you wish. I did this by slapping the upturned sieve on the edge of the bowl. You may find some of the gluten in this mix, so just retrieve, as much as possible, leaving the bran, and put it back into to main bowl and keep on kneading.

Eventually – five minutes or so – you should start to get a ball of gluten. This is what you are aiming for.

Now that your gluten is formed, place it into the pot, with the broth, on the stove and bring to a gentle boil. When it rises to the top, it is done.

Of course one last question would probably be, what do you do with this after it is made. Well that is another article. I will be doing an article based on the question, how does one make vegan bacon bits? That article will be coming out in a few days.

 

– bri