Seitan From Scratch

Seitan from Scratch
Yesterday, approximately 3.4 years after I bought my first box of vital wheat gluten with the best of intentions, I finally made seitan. And it was awesome.

Here's how I made it:


Seitan

10 oz. vital wheat gluten
2 c. water
32 oz. vegetable broth
1/3 c. soy sauce

I used Arrowhead Mills Vital Wheat Gluten (it's the protein part of wheat and looks like flour) and decided to go ahead and make up the whole box, so I would have some to freeze and some to refrigerate for later in the week. This made a lot of seitan.

Following the instructions on the box, I dumped the wheat gluten into the bowl of my mixer, which I had outfitted with a dough hook, and added 2 c. of water. I then mixed at medium speed for about 5 min. until a sticky, elastic ball of dough had formed. 
I covered the bowl with a towel and let it rest for a few minutes while I prepared the simmering liquid.
In a large stock pot, I combined the vegetable broth and soy sauce to make the simmering liquid. I pulled the ball of seitan apart into four smaller balls, which I then stretched into logs. Stretchy! Elastic! Fun!

I put the seitan logs into the simmering liquid, brought it to a boil, then lowered to a simmer and covered. I simmered the seitan covered for an hour, turning every 20 min. 
The seitan greatly expands in size while simmering and, according to LCBF, looks a little like brains. When it was done it had a nice chewy texture and a rich taste.  Easily better than the seitan I've been buying in the store.
Brraaaiiinnnnnnnnnsssss!

I let the seitan cool in the liquid, then packed up half for the freezer and put the rest in the fridge for later (more on that in another post). 

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