I wanted to post my recipe for Homemade Roasted Seitan. It is a variation from the one listed in
The Nutritional Yeast Cookbook, very similar but I've adapted it in enough subtle ways to make it my own.
Dry Ingredients
6 cups of
vital wheat gluten
1 cup of
nutritional yeast flakes
2 Tablespoons of veggie bouillon of your choice
1 Tablespoon of onion granules
1 Tablespoon of garlic granules
Wet Ingredients
4 1/2 cups of water
1/2 cup of
Bragg's Liquid Aminos (you can substitute soy sauce or tamari)
Marinade
Here you have a TON of flexibility. But here's what I use, most days, depending on what I have in the kitchen at the time (approximately, I don't really measure it these days):
1/2 cup of sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
1 Tablespoon maple syrup
1 Tablespoon chili powder
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 Tablespoon tamari
2 Tablespoons cooking wine
1 tsp dill seed
Process
1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Mix the drys in one large bowl, the wets in a smaller bowl, and the marinade in a coffeecup.
3. Pour the wets into the dry bowl, mix with a fork until it is reasonably well mixed. You are making a dough, but you don't really want to knead it as the seitan will get too tough and rubbery. Work the dough, using gentle but firm pressure, into a round loaf about an inch thick and 12-14" round. Place the dough into a well-oiled (I use peanut oil), large 14" round cast iron skillet.
4. You will most likely have some powder left in the bottom of the bowl. Gently sprinkle this powder onto the top of the loaf, and spread it out with your hands, rubbing it into the outer top edge of the loaf. Then, pour your coffeecup with the well-mixed marinade onto the loaf, and rub the oily marinade mixture into the loaf so that the entire top half of the loaf is covered. The marinade and the layer of extra powder give a nice finish to the seitan "skin". I usually lift up the loaf so that I can wipe excess oil from my hands onto the bottom of the loaf.
5. Take the coffeecup that the marinade was in, and fill it with water. Pour this water (along with the last vestiges of marinade left in the cup) around the edge of the loaf. This is enough water to almost, but not quite, submerge the loaf.
6. Wash your hands well.
WARNING! You will have lots of little vital wheat gluten granules clinging desperatly to your hand and fingers. This stuff is a HUGE pain to clean off, you will most likely need to scrub your hands with a brush of some sort. Do NOT wipe this stuff onto a towel as it will NOT come out in the laundry. You'll ruin the towel if you do.
7. Once your hands are clean again, cover the cast iron skillet with aluminum foil, and place it into the 375 oven. Let it cook for 30 minutes.
8. After it has cooked for 30 minutes, remove the aluminum foil, and let it continue cooking.
9. Every 5 minutes thereafter, use a broad spoon (or a baster if you have one), and make sure the top of the loaf stays moist and doesn't burn. Repeat every 5 minutes. For me this usually takes about 55 minutes of total cooking time, give or take 5 minutes.
10. Once you are about out of liquid, such that it's hard to fill a large table spoon with liquid in the bottom of the pan, remove the cast iron skillet from the oven. As the seitan cools, it will absorb the rest of the liquid.
11. Let the seitan cool for about a half an hour. Then, slice it thinly, I usually slice it about 1/8 to 1/4" thick, thin pieces about an inch square.
The resulting seitan goes very well with mashed potatoes, veggies, and gravy. You can also wrap it in the fridge (this is a LOT of food, there will be leftovers). I like to take paper-thin slices of seitan for sandwiches, portable yummy work-lunch goodness.
Enjoy!