INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

A while back someone asked for a recipe on how to make your own seitan. I
have never even had it before, but this is a recipe I found. I got it at
the following link: www.mountainark.com/public_html/belleme.html You can
also find lots of things to do with seitan on this page.
Combine 18 cups whole wheat flour and about 11 cups water in a large (8
quart) bowl or a round plastic dishpan. (This makes a lot. This amount
works well for my family of two adults and one small boy - we love seitan,
and this amount makes a week's worth for us to eat in a variety of dishes.
You can halve this recipe or increase it. If you do change the amount,
remember to adjust the quanity of cooking broth accordingly.)
Knead the dough, which should be quite sticky, for 5-10 minutes. The
easiest way to do this is to set the bowl on a dining table (a counter top
is too high) so you can use your weight effectively rather than just using
your arm muscles. When flour and water are mixed, vigorously punch the
dough with one closed fist, then the other, 300-350 times. Cover dough with
cold water and let sit for at least 3/4 hour. Knead the dough slowly and
carefully in the water until the water becomes thick with white starch.
Pour off the creamy liquid. (This milky, somewhat thick "starch water" from
the first few rinses can be saved - it is excellent in bread recipes and as
a thickener for stews, sauces, etc.) Gently cover dough with water and
knead again. Alternate between warm and cold water rinses, kneading each
time to extract the cream-colored starch. A large colander will help in
draining off the water from the first several kneadings. At first the dough
will seem to be falling apart, and the colander will catch all the little
pieces so you don't lose them down the drain. Sometimes a batch of flour
disintegrates in the washing, instead of separating into strach, bran, and
gluten. In this case you will have to try again with a different type of
whole wheat flour.
After about six rinses, the dough should become rubbery gluten. Remaining
specks of bran or starch can be rinsed away under the tap by pulling the
gluten apart and exposing the inside.
Pull off balls, or form gluten into patties, and drop them into boiling
water. When they rinse, like dumplings, remove and drop them into cold
water.
Prepare seitan seasoning stock: In a large pot combine 14 cups cold water,
two 6-inch strips of kombu, 1 1/4 cups shoyu or tamari, 1/4 cup grated
fresh ginger and, if desired, herbs. For example, try 1 tablespoon each
rosemary and sweet basil and 2 teaspoons thyme, or use a combination of bay
leaf, garlic, and celery seed. Drop gluten balls into stock, bring to a
boil, and cook 2-3 hours over medium heat with lid ajar. (This may seem
like a lot of stock at first, but the gluten absorbs most of it. Also, the
length of cooking time depends on the size of your pieces of gluten. I
divide the gluten into only four equal pieces and cook them for 3 hours.
Smaller pieces take less time.) The seitan is now ready to be used in any
of the following recipes.
Seitan will keep for at least one week refrigerated in its cooking broth.
For longer storage, add more shoyu or tamari to the broth.
Posted to fatfree digest V97 #211 by richjulia@nations.net (Richard and
Julia Padget) on Sep 13, 1997

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