How to make seitan from flour

I usually cook completely without any vegetarian meat substitutes. The main reason is that most of these commercial products have loads of ingredients - like artificial colors and flavors - to make it more meat-like and I really don't want these in my diet. Most of the time I'm just fine with my legumes, nuts and other natural ingredients to account for my protein intake.

But sometimes, I want to cook something I know from my childhood - some nice hearty comfort food and traditional dishes - and these recipe usually don't work without a nice piece of meat. In this cases, I use this recipe to make some seitan, and while having full control over all ingredients, I can also fit the taste to my needs.

I hope you try it out! ^^

course	country	time	difficulty
Basics	-	2h	medium

Ingredients

Serves 4

Dough

imperial	metric
8 cups	1kg	flour
2.5 cups	600ml	water

Marinade

imperial	metric
1 tbsp		olive oil
2		onions, chopped
2		garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 cup	60ml	soy sauce
1/8 cup	30ml	vinegar
6 cup	1.5l	water
2 tbsp		granulated broth
2 tbsp		mustard
2 tsp		paprika powder
1/2 tsp		cumin
1/2 tsp		coriander
1 tsp		garlic powder
1		bay leaf

Of course this is just an orientation, you can drop ingredients you don't like and add others. I find the taste of the seitan with this marinade to be hearty, meaty but not to overwhelming or "specific".
But according to the designated use, you can add more "specific" ingredients like ginger to fit an Asian inspired meal or tomato paste and oregano to fit an Italian dish

Instruction

• in a big bowl, mix flour and water
• using you hand or a kneading machine, knead the dough for about 5-10 minutes until homogeneous
• fill the bowl with water until the dough is completely covered
• leave for about 20 min, until you're done with the marinade

• in a medium pot, heat olive oil and cook onions until browned
• add garlic and roast for another 2min
• add all remaining ingredients and stir
• let the marinade simmer until the dough is prepared

• begin to knead the dough under water
• you will notice the water getting milky, that's the starch you're washing out
• when the water is completely opaque, replace the milky water with fresh water
• as you continue kneading, the dough will fall apart, leaving small shreds of a rubber-like substance - that's the protein we want (which is not water-soluble)

you may use a fine sieve to not loose these shred to the drain, while replacing the water try to knead those loose pieces together by using a "folding movement" continue to knead and replace the water until the water remains (mostly) clear the better you wash out the starch, the firmer the seitan will be loaf will be only a fraction of the size of the original dough, but don't worry, it will grow again cut the seitan in suitable pieces, according to the designated use (but keep in mind, the pieces will double in size during the cooking process now, add the seitan pieces to the simmering marinade and cook for about 1 hour after that, fill everything in a big canning car or a tupperware container (depending on when you want to use is)

• it's best to leaf the seitan for 1-2d to soak up all the flavor, but you can also use it after a few hours

Before I use the seitan, I usually drain it and stir-fry it in a pan with oil, like I would any meat. Sometimes, I hold back some of the marinade to use it for my sauce.

Self-made granulated vegetable broth

I think most people don't realize, how SIMPLE it is, to go without all the convenience, instant and super-processed broth products with loads of preservatives, flavor enhancer and other strange and non-pronounceable ingredients.

You just need some nice soup greens, some salt, a blender and an oven. You can even skip the oven part and use your veggies as paste for you soup. It's as easy as that and especially that much healthier.

course	country	time	difficulty
Basics	-	10min + 2.5h drying time	easy

Ingredients

imperial	metric
1 lb	500g	soup greens (I used carrots, leek, celery roots, parsley)
3 tsp		salt

This recipe is like a base to build on, you can use any soup greens you like and you can add more herbs and spices to fit your taste.

One example: if you plan on doing an soup inspired by the Asian cuisine, add ginger and/or lemongrass to you recipe!

Instruction

	clean your vegetables and chop them in big pieces add pieces and salt to a blender and chop finely spread everything on a lined baking sheet and put into oven for ~2h at 170°F/75°C - leave the oven door ajar use a fork to loosen up the mixture every ~30 min or so turn the heat off and leave for another 30min in the oven fill in a suitable container and keep in a dry and cool spot
You can skip the drying process if you're in a hurry - the vegetable paste works just as fine (picture above), it's just more perishable (about 2 weeks in the fridge). When I make this recipe, I usually dry half of the chopped vegetable and use the other half freshly. When you use the paste for a soup, you can fry it in some oil before you put the water in, to get a nice roasting flavor.