Seitan: a DIY

Seitan is a vegetarian protein derived from wheat.  It's actually been made for thousand(s?) of years in China by washing the starch from a wheat flour dough, leaving behind a bouncy, proteinaceous mass.  The protein can be formed into cutlets, cut or pulled into chunks, or rolled into logs or loaves.  Once you have it in the shape you want, the dough should be either simmered in a broth, steamed, or baked in the oven.  

The basic recipe is a riff on a recipe called "Seitan o greatness" that apparently made the vegetarian food blog rounds...something like 5 years ago (what can I say, I didn't really cook back then and I wasn't a vegetarian, so you wouldn't have caught me making seitan!).  

The basic recipe from Yeah, That Vegan Shit makes a large batch and calls for 1.5c of vital wheat gluten, 1/4 c. of nutritional yeast, and a variety of seasonings.  Since this was the first time I was making seitan (and since I was already itching to switch up the seasonings), I decided to make one batch divided into 3 different flavors: Italian, sage/poultry, and chorizo.  

Basic recipe:

Dry ingredients

1.5 c vital wheat gluten 

1/4 c. nutritional yeast (for umami)

1 t. salt

~2 tsp. spices

Wet ingredients

3/4 c. cold water

4 T. tomato paste

1 T. ketchup

2 T. olive oil

2 T. worcestershire or soy sauce

1-3 cloves of garlic (or include garlic powder in the dry seasonings)

So, to make my 3 mini-batches, I put 1/2 c. vital wheat gluten and a heaping tablespoon of nutritional yeast into each bowl and added the following seasonings:

Italian seasonings

Italian: 1/4 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp rosemary, 1-2 tsp crushed fennel seeds, 1 T. basil

Sage & seasonings

Sage/poultry: 1 tsp sage, 1/4 tsp. smoked paprika, 1-2 tsp crushed fennel seeds

Chorizo seasonings

Chorizo: 1/8 tsp smoke powder (I got this at the Spice House in Wauwatosa...it's like a powdered essence of smoke but it's really strong, so if you get this I'd advise using only a tiny bit), 1/2 tsp cumin powder, 1/4 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp crushed fennel seeds, 1 tsp chili flakes, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper powder.  Note: I used sea salt because I have foolishly run out of regular salt and need to go to the store.

Once you have all the seasonings in order, mix up the dry ingredients.  

Next, mix up the wet ingredients.  I did not plan ahead, so I thought I had tomato paste and had to sub marinara sauce from a jar instead (an imperfect substitute, sure.  But it worked out okay!).  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir around.

At this point, everything kind of clumped up, so I ditched my spoon, sprinkled in a little more cold water, and used my hand to massage the dough in the bowl and knead it until the dough had come together.

Italian-flavored dough

Sage-flavored dough

Chorizo-flavored dough

Once the dough seems to have come together, I kneaded it a little bit more and turned to the seitan log-forming.  Use two sheets of foil stacked on top of each other (according to other people who have made this, they used heavy duty foil...I only had regular, so let's see how this goes).  I plopped the dough on the foil and tightly rolled it up.  Twist the ends tight like a tootsie roll and you're good to go.

Rolled up and ready to bake!

Bake in a 325 degree oven for 90 minutes.  Yes, 90 minutes.

After about an hour, I heard a loud noise from the kitchen.  I opened the oven door to see this:
 

Whoa! How did that get over there?

 It might be hard to tell, but the chorizo roll on the right had popped open, puffing up in the process and leaping over to the side of the oven.  I put it back on the tray and figured I couldn't do anything about it, so I'd just see how it played out.

Clockwise from top left: chorizo, sage, Italian

 Once 90 minutes has elapsed, pull your seitan from the oven, open up the foil packets, and let them cool completely before slicing (okay, I couldn't quite make it to "completely cool" but I tried to wait as long as I could! The chorizo had a big crack down the middle of it but otherwise was pretty similar to the other two.

Time for a taste test!

Taste-wise: the seitan was chewy and I really liked the chorizo the best.  It was spicy but not too much so.  The sage was a bit one-note and if I knew more about what is included in poultry seasoning (or if I had had thyme...okay, I really really need to go to the store), then it might have been a bit more balanced.  The Italian was pretty good, too.

I can already see myself making this regularly: it was relatively simple, came together quickly, and the baking time is completely hands-off.  I could see taking the key spices from a multitude of cuisines and turning them into seitan flavors (in a way that real sausage doesn't necessarily lend itself to): curry powder and cumin and garam masala for Indian, steak seasonings for a beefy flavor (??), ginger and garlic and a little rice wine vinegar and hoisin for a Chinese-inspired protein...the list goes on!

What do you think: have you eaten seitan before?  Have any good ideas for seitan flavors?