Everything I Know About Seitan, I learned on the Internet!

Seitan Tips ‘n Tricks

(I'll pick up my tiara on payday...)

Let me first start out by saying that there is really nothing much here that hasn’t been tried or mentioned somewhere else. I’ve just taken methods and cooking styles from all over the internet, cobbled them together, played around a bit (OK, a lot) and found what works for me. It’s a little of this, little of that. What works (or doesn’t work) for me personally doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the way to go for you. I throw this info out into cyberspace in the hopes that it might help a few of you out there in your quest for the perfect seitan. If not, well hey, I did my part...

First, a word about gluten. I find that a lot of people are puzzled as to whether they should be using “wheat gluten” flour or “vital wheat gluten” flour. To the best of my knowledge, they are the same darn thing. I personally buy most of my gluten flour at the Bulk Barn in large quantities…(the last time I was there, I walked away with $45 dollars worth! The chick at the cash register seemed very puzzled…) There is such a thing as "high gluten flour" which is basically just regular flour with a little extra gluten added, but I feel pretty confident that if you find this on the shelf of the grocery store it would explain that on the label.

The first Seitan I ever tried was from La Dolce Vegan. This is a pretty basic recipe, using only gluten flour as a dry ingredient. I do sometimes still make seitan using just gluten- it is firmer and more rubbery than seitan made with a mix of dry ingredients, but sometimes that is exactly what you want. But I find you simply cannot roll out this kind of seitan; it’s strictly slice-n-boil.

The next type of Seitan I made was using Bryanna Clark Grogan’s recipe for “Soy and Seitan” Turkey. I wasn’t enamored with this when I tried it, taste wise, and I found the texture too firm for what I expected turkey to be. But I must have filed something from the experience away in my brain, because six months later when a veg friend was lamenting that she hadn’t had a donair in over a year, and asked me to come up with something, the texture of the seitan Un-turkey instantly came to mind. See, a donair (like a Gyro) requires very thin slices of “meat” shaved off of a loaf, and this recipe did fit the bill, texture wise. Although the instructions had mentioned the option of rolling out the dough and filling it, as far as I could tell, there was no darn way that this stuff could ever be rolled out. It was very firm and rubbery and not that easy to work with.

The one thing I did gain from this experience is that the addition of other ingredients to the mix can drastically change the texture and workability of the seitan dough and the finished product. Adding firm tofu, pureed with water in the blender, made it somewhat easier to work with and the texture better, but was still too hard to mold or roll out. So I switched to silken tofu and haven’t looked back.

Silken tofu makes the seitan dough take on almost the texture of firm Play-Doh. It’s not as easy to roll out as bread dough, but definitely doable with a few minutes of effort. I place a dishtowel under my big board that I use for rolling out dough to keep it from slipping, as the rolling can get pretty athletic, depending on that I’m making of course. Still, it never takes more than a few minutes to roll out a piece of Seitan dough.

I always add a little bit of soy flour to the mix as well, generally about one-fifth to one quarter of the total amount of gluten flour I’m using, (You can use chickpea flour of course, but I don’t because it’s really, really hard to find where I live, along with being ridiculously expensive.) I’ve also experimented with the addition of small amounts of cornmeal, oats, TVP and other goodies for texture, depending on what “meat” I’m trying to replicate.

In regards to baking methods, two things to remember: Baking makes the Seitan chewier, cooking in broth makes it squishier. Sometimes, a little bit of both methods is required.

For example, when I made my “Ribz”, I knew I wanted a firm, chewy texture, so I baked the ribz in foil for an hour and a half. I made it drier that I would ultimately like it to be, because I knew it was going to have a good long soak in hot watery BBQ sauce later. The ribz softened in the sauce just enough so the texture ended up perfect. My “steaks” I did not bake as long, but I did bake them a bit as they would be lying in cold marinade for a few hours. Without first drying out a little, I find that the Seitan soaks up the cooking broth like crazy.

For my “chicken legs”, I wanted the Seitan to have a somewhat softer, “poofier” texture on the inside, but to have a crispy exterior, so I baked the “legs” on low in broth for an hour, then removed them from the broth and baked them covered in foil for 45 minutes. That locked the “juiciness” into the seitan. A quick deep fry added the crispy coating.

A lady named Ruth sent me a comment recently about having a “seitan” failure and having to throw the whole mess in the composter. Here’s the thing: There should never be any reason to throw a failed batch of seitan away. You may end up using it in ways you didn’t plan, but seitan can almost always be “saved”.

If it’s too hard, throw it in hot broth and simmer for a while. (Too-hard seitan is perfect for chopping up and throwing in soup!) If it’s too soft and damp, wrap it in foil and throw it in the oven at 300 for a little while. Check every 20 minutes or so. Or slice it and fry it in a little oil.
If the seitan is too bland all by itself, than cook it in a spicy sauce or bread it with flour and spice and fry it. There’s always something you can do to save the day.

A few more things: You know how when you’re kneading bread, you keep adding flour, and adding flour, until every last bit of stickiness is gone and you simply can’t add any more? Well, forget that when you’re making up your ball of seitan. Have a bit of gluten flour on hand while you are kneading and forming your ball, but only sprinkle on enough to allow you to shape it into a smooth and workable mass without any big and obvious sticky spots. The more gluten flour you knead in, the harder the ball will get.

As well, the hour-long wait time after kneading is absolutely essential, so do not skip this step. If you’re pressed for time, you can make the dough up the night before, wrap it and keep it in the refrigerator overnight.

In regards to flavorings, just a few things: I find a little bit of something tomato-ey, like ketchup or tomato juice, adds a nice little somethin’ somethin’ to “beefy” seitan. For anything ham or bacon-like, liquid smoke is absolutely essential, but go easy!! A few drops of this stuff goes a long way.

And unless you have blood pressure issues, I recommend using salt and salty ingredients with a fairly free hand, as it really brings out the flavors of whatever else you add.

Well, that’s all I can think of right now. I still haven’t tried all the things that are swimming around in my head yet, (not even close!) so I’ll be sure to keep you all posted about what I come up with that works (and what I come up with that sucks ass.) Like, I wonder what you would end up with if you mixed steamed tempeh, ground in the food processor, with gluten?

Hmmmm…I’ll just have to find out. In the meantime, I’m going to find a company that manufactures gluten flour and buy stock in it. That’s it for me tonight folks…..Peace and Seitan.