Homemade Seitan
What is Seitan?
Seitan is a food made from wheat protein ( gluten ) with meat-like consistency. It is part of the traditional Chinese and Japanese cuisines. For the production of seitan wheat flour is first kneaded with water to a dough and repeatedly washed after a rest period by kneading under water, whereby the dough is gradually removed from a large part of the starch. In the end, a tough gluten-rich mass remains. Gluten flour can also be used as an alternative to wheat flour. In gluten flour, the starch and gluten have already been separated, so that after the washing a high yield of Seitan mass is obtained.
Seitan flavor can be modified by cooking or steaming the raw meal in a marinade that is traditionally made from soy sauce, seaweed and spices consist. It has a meaty consistency and can be cut into slices and pieces. These slices can then be marinated or used directly, such as fried, fried or baked in the oven. Seitan can be frozen.
Is Gluten so bad for you?
Gluten is most often associated with foods containing wheat. The negative media attention to wheat and gluten has led some people to doubt their place in a healthy diet. There is little research published to support these claims. In fact, newer studies suggest the opposite.
In a 2017 study with more than 100,000 participants without celiac disease who avoid gluten can have a higher risk of heart disease because of the potential for reducing whole grain consumption.
Many studies have linked the consumption of whole grains to improved health. For example, groups with the highest intakes of whole grains, including wheat (2 to 3 servings a day), compared to the lowest intake groups (less than 2 servings per day), have lower rates of heart disease and diarrhea, stroke, and diabetes.
Gluten can also act as a prebiotic to feed the “good” bacteria in our body. The arabinoxylan oligosaccharide is a wheat-bran based prebiotic carbohydrate, which stimulates the activity of bifidobacteria in the colon. These type of bacteria can be found in a healthy human gut. Changes in their level or activity have been implicated in gastrointestinal disorders, including inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer, and irritable bowel syndrome.
For further reading including all references to the appropriate scientific publications, please read an article from the School of Public Health, Harvard T.H. Chan “Gluten: A Benefit or Harm to the Body”?.
Homemade Seitan
This is a great way to get low-priced on the delicious meat substitutes while ensuring that there are no unnecessary additives or preservatives get into the wheat meat. Another significant advantage of making your own is that you can make a large amount of seitan yourself. It is easily freezable and then stores it optimally as a supply. Moreover, you can modify the taste by
(1) seasoning the dough, (2) seasoning the broth, (3) marinating while storing and (4) marinating while preparing.
Making Seitan
Part 1: The choice of the basic substance
You can use conventional wheat flour from the supermarket, resulting in the more complex production process, or you can buy wheat gluten, from which the starch has already been removed, which simplifies the process. We recommend using organic products.
1. version made from flour:
In this method, the basic substances required are water and normal unbleached wheat flour. It is sufficient to use the cheap flour. Wholemeal flour is not needed, as all starches of the flour are washed out except for the gluten. To estimate the amount produced, it is possible to follow the general rule that the total mass of pure seitan is only 1/4 of the total mass of unbleached wheat flour used. If you use flours with a higher protein content such as bread flour your yield will increase. Flour from durum wheat (triticum durum) or durum wheat (Indian Atta flour) has the highest gluten content.
Step 1:
The first step is the making of the dough. For this, you mix unbleached wheat flour with water in a large bowl of a food processor. You can use your bread machine just turn on the dough cycle. At first, you must knead gently for 10 minutes and then increase the speed for another 10 to 15 minutes. Watch that all lumps of flour have dissolved and dough becomes elastic with a rubber-like consistency. Afterward, the dough should be covered and left alone for at least 1 hours. Alternatively, you can leave in the refrigerator overnight.
Step 2:
Now you must wash out the starches from the dough, which is a tedious process. Fill the bowl with water and knead until all the starch is washed out and thus the water is not cloudy anymore. At this point, you obtained a dough from pure wheat gluten, which can you can use to make seitan.
2. A version made from Wheat Gluten
This method uses wheat gluten and water in the ratio 50/50. Use the same kneading technique as described in the first version. The advantage of this method is that you are not required to rinse with water. Thus, the amount of seitan produced in this variant can be assessed much better in advance, since no losses. So basically for each cup of dry wheat gluten, you can make more than a cup of seitan yourself (considering the moister content). Another advantage is that you can already season your dough during the dough making process.
3. A version using Wheat Gluten and High Protein Durum Flour
The here described method uses pure gluten and high glutenous durum-type of flour such as the Indian atta flour in a 1 to 2 ratio. I found that this method produces a fairly good yield because the amount of starch that is washed put is not too high. Moreover, if you buy larger packs of Atta flour then the price is fairly low. Gluten, on the other hand, is in the USA not too cheap. Essentially it is a combination of both methods described above.
Part 2: Cooking of the gluten dough
Seitan can either be boiled directly in the water to give a softer consistency. If you want a firmer texture you can use a sous-vide technique and vacuum pack the seitan with spices and then cook these bags.
soft consistency
Cut into small pieces before cooking. Place the Seiten in a pot of boiling broth and boil for about 50 -60 minutes. After the seitan is cooked, you can take it out of the pot and strain it. Let it cool down to be able to squeeze all the water from the seitan pieces. Now the homemade seitan is ready for consumption or for further processing.
firm consistency
You can achieve this by sealing the gluten dough into sous-vide bags with a marinade. If you don’t have a vacuum sealer then you can use freezer bags. Make sure that all air is pushed out of the bag and the bag is sealed airtight. The bags are then placed in a large pot of water and boiled for about 2 hours. The seitan is cooked if the mass in the bags has a firm consistency. If this is the case, the bags from the pot. If you want to store these bags in the fridge or freezer then put into ice water to stop the cooking process. Now the home-made wheat meat is ready for further processing or direct consumption.
Part 3: Seasoning
Plan what you want to cook and put great emphasis on seasoning. Since the grain meat is tasteless in itself you can easily tune the flavor. You can also use different methods to refine the taste of seitan. The following methods can be used to bring seasoning into the seitan.
Season the dough
Incorporate the seasoning into the dough to give the seitan a desired flavor. This method can be particularly used for seitan that is made directly from gluten. It is a good way to enhance the desired flavors the beginning and if you wish to make a firmer consistency by preparing it in a sous-vide pack without cooking it in a well-seasoned broth.
Season the broth
Another way to give Seitan a strong taste is to season the broth. Depending on the cooking variant, either directly the water in which the seitan is cooked, seasoned. If you use sou-vide bags, then add a spicy broth with the seitan to get them absorbed into the mass.
Season by marinating
Essentially it is the same method that is used with meats to develop a stronger flavor. You make a marinade from spices oils and acids and expose the seitan to it for several hours. If you are making a larger portion of seitan, then you can keep the wheat gluten in a spicy marinade in the fridge.
Season while preparing
Finally, homemade seitan can be spiced up vigorously during processing or preparation. As with serving any other kind of food, different spices can be used depending on the recipe. In addition to the use of classic spices such as salt and pepper, the creativity of the chef knows no bounds.
Recipes
Here are the basic recipes of homemade seitan.
Due to the low protein content of the all-purpose wheat flour, a three-step method is required. First, the dough is made, and in a second step, the starches are washed out leaving behind a gluten dough. This dough is then simmered in a spicy broth to make the meat-like tempeh.
- 4 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tbsp of any old dry spices such as baisile , thyme estragon
- 1 cups water if necessary add more
- for broth
- 1 tbsp dried mushroom ground
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tsp red miso
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 2 tbsp of any old dry spices such as biasile , thyme estragon
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp Juniper berry
- 4 cups water
- 1 tsp salt
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Because I am using the dough cycle of a bread machine, I add all the dry and wet ingredient for the dough into the pan and use the fast kneading cycle for bread. This is about 10 min on a slow and later 10 min on a high cycle. You will see that the high gluten develops with the water to an elastic dough.
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At this stage, you can let the dough rest for 1 h or overnight. However, if you are in a hurry, then you can skip this step.
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Rinsing: The purpose of this step is to remove any starch present in the dough. To do this, place the mixture in a colander. Rinse with cold water while kneading the dough. The cloudy rinsing water proves that the starch is removed. Repeat the operation by changing the water regularly. The dough is ready when the water is reasonably clear.
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Make 3 to 4 cups of water by adding all the broth ingredient into the pot and bring to a boil. Now add the seitan and cook/ simmer for 50 min to 1 h.
Remove from the pot and press out liquid as you like. For stews, I cut pieces and taste before I proceed. For larger pieces, I let them cool down and press all the liquid out and put them in a vacuum bag and vacuum-seal them for freezing.
Note that for the broth you can use any old dry spices that are expired and you want to get rid off. Also at this stage, you can also influence the dish by using specific spices, e.g., Mexican spices for a chili etc.
High yields of seitan can be made by using pure wheat gluten. Moreover, it simplifies the process into two steps: 1. It is the making of a dough 2. Cooking and simmering in a spicy broth.
- 2 cup wheat gluten
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 tbsp vegetarian yeast
- 2 tbsp of any old dry spices such as basil , thyme estragon
- 2 cups water if necessary add more
- for broth
- 1 tbsp dried mushroom ground
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tsp red miso
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 2 tbsp of any old dry spices such as basil , thyme estragon
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp jupiter
- 4 cups water
- 1 tsp salt
-
Because I am using the dough cycle of a bread machine, I add all the dry and wet ingredient for the dough into the pan and use the fast kneading cycle for bread. This is about 10 min on a slow and later 10 min on a high cycle. You will see that the high gluten develops with the water to an elastic dough. Since the washing is omitted, you can add seasonings to the dough. After just a few minutes you have a finished dough made from wheat gluten, which can be processed directly.
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Make 4 cups of water by adding all the broth ingredient into the pot and bring to a boil. Now add the seitan and cook/ simmer for 50 min to 1 h.
Remove from the pot and press out liquid as you like. For stews, I cut pieces and taste before I proceed. For larger pieces, I let them cool down and press all the liquid out and put them in a vacuum bag and vacuum-seal them for freezing.
Note that for the broth you can use any old dry spices that are expired and you want to get rid off. Also at this stage, you can also influence the dish by using specific spices, e.g., Mexican spices for a chili etc.
Atta is a wholemeal wheat flour used in Indian cuisine in South Asia, especially in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, for the production of flatbread such as Chapati, Naan or Paratha. Atta is usually made from gluten-rich durum wheat with a protein content of about 9 to 12 percent. It is therefore characterized by a yellow to light brown color and forming of a very pliable dough. Combined with wheat gluten it makes excellent seitan.
- 1 cup wheat gluten
- 2 cups Atta Flour
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 tbsp vegetarian yeast
- 2 tbsp of any old dry spices such as basile , thyme estragon
- 1/2 tsp Calcium Carbonate optional
- 2 cups water if necessary add more
- for broth
- 1 tbsp dried mushroom ground
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tsp red miso
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 2 tbsp of any old dry spices such as basile , thyme estragon
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp jupiter
- 4 cups water
- 1 tsp salt
-
Because I am using the dough cycle of a bread machine I add all the dry and wet ingredient for the dough into the pan and use the fast kneading cycle for bread. This is about 10 min on a slow and later 10 min on a high cycle. You will see that the high gluten develops with the water to an elastic dough.
-
Rinsing: The purpose of this step is to remove any starch present in the dough. To do this, place the mixture in a colander. Rinse with cold water while kneading the dough. The cloudy rinsing water proves that the starch is removed. Repeat the operation by changing the water regularly. The dough is ready when the water is reasonably clear.
-
Make 4 cups of water by adding all the broth ingredient into the pot and bring to a boil. Now add the seitan and cook/ simmer for 50 min to 1 h.
Remove from the pot and press out liquid as you like. For stews, I cut pieces and taste before I proceed. For larger pieces, I let them cool down and press all the liquid out and put them in a vacuum bag and vacuum-seal them for freezing.
Note that for the broth you can use any old dry spices that are expired and you want to get rid off. Also at this stage, you can also influence the dish by using specific spices, e.g., Mexican spices for a chili etc.
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