Vegan Mofo #9 Seitan My Way

Being vegan for as long as I have, I have been forced to eat numerous plates of spongy, dry, or flavorless seitan. I have also tried numerous cooking methods, some of which worked out alright, and some that produced dishes that made me feel like I was eating a chewy, flavorless mess. Both boiling and cooking in broth never deemed the right consistency for me. After utilizing a sausage recipe on the ppk forum and loving it, I started thinking about what would happen if I did that method to a whole loaf of seitan. The results made for something that I could slice super thin for sandwiches, slice into chunks for skewers and stews, and crumbled pretty well in a food processor. I wasn't sure if I should blog this seeing as many of you probably make seitan pretty often, but then I thought about the people at work who ask me about the blobs of "seitan" we serve and are blown away that it could actually be good. I guess there are people out there who don't have a lot of guidance and this may help.So here is my play by play of me making seitan today and a recipe to follow.



I needed some seitan making music... I chose The Dirtys, who were from Port Huron, MI. My husband introduced them to me. Their only album, titled "You Should Be Sinnin'" was released on Germany's Crypt Records sometime in the late 90's and is one of my favorite CD's/records to listen to while I'm cooking as they played a great upbeat blend of fast aggressive freak-out rock & roll at an almost hardcore tempo. They are pretty much motivation for anything, not a band anymore but you should still check them out.http://www.myspace.com/thedirtysrock



dry mix


dry & wet mix


mix the two together


kneading


kneaded


on sprayed foil


ready for the oven


one hour later


please...I'm starving over here


Evidence of Matt picking at it when I wasn't looking. Between the dog and the husband at least half will get eaten before it gets into the fridge.


sliced

Seitan My Way
Dry Mix
1 Box Vital Wheat Gluten
1/2 cup Nutritional Yeast
1 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp Pepper

Wet Mix
1 1/2 cups Veggie Broth
1 tbs Granulated Garlic
1 tbs Tomato Paste
4 Drops Liquid Smoke
1 tbs Soy Sauce
2 tsp Worcestershire

-Preheat oven to 350
-Put dry mix together in a bowl and set aside
-Stir wet mix together until tomato paste isn't clumpy
-Pour wet mix into dry mix
Knead the mix with your hands until its a tough dough
- Form the loaf into a shape like the picture above (square shape?)
-Spray a piece of foil with a olive oil spray to prevent sticking and wrap the seitan really tight
- Cook for one hour and 15 minutes, flipping the loaf every 20 minutes. When you press on it and its no longer soggy but firm, its ready to go