How to make seitan (a/k/a gluten meat)
Seitan — or gluten meat — is a vegan meat alternative. It is very easy to make, although it can get a bit messy.
First, mix about 7 cups of whole wheat flour with enough water to make a dough the consistency of bread dough. Knead it for about 10 minutes, like you would a loaf of bread.
Second, put it in a bowl of water and let it soak for about 45 minutes.
Third, take the ball of dough and rinse it under running water. As you rinse it, knead it. You should do this over a bowl or screen, I typically use a colander with small holes. If you put a fine under the colander, you can catch the bran that is being washed out of the dough, and if you put a bucket under that, you can catch the milky-white starch water. So when you make seitan, there are 3 useful products that you get — the seitan itself, starch water, and bran.
As you knead the dough under the running water, the starch and bran are washed out. There is a point in the washing process where the dough almost completely falls apart, but then almost immediately begins to stick back together. As little globs of the seitan break off, bring them back into the dough ball. Keep doing this until you don’t feel any more bran in the dough, and the water is running off clearer. Typically, this takes about 10 minutes of kneading.
You will end up with about 1/3 of the original amount as seitan.
Form the seitan into little loaves, and steam it for about 45 minutes. Some online recipes I found suggested baking it, but I did not have any success with that. Steaming creates the meat-like texture for which seitan is desired.
This makes a plain, unflavored seitan, that is then ready to soak up flavors. The best results I have had with cooking seitan is to pan or deep fry it. Typically, I create a rub and rub it into the sliced seitan. Then I pan fry it, or bread it and deep-fry it. Serve with a sauce or gravy.
Uses for bran: make bran flakes, use as an ingredient in cookies and breads.
Uses for starch water: Starch your clothes with it (spray and iron), use as a thickener for gravies. When you let it sit for a while, it separates into 3 layers. Use the top (light) layer for starching clothes. Keep this refrigerated, it will sour.