Making Charlie's Seitan

Readers, as you know, I am always on the look out for a good seitan recipe.  Well, I found a new one on Charlie's Kitchen Blog, and it made a great batch of seitan! I have been using a mix of vital wheat gluten and chick pea flour in my recent batches, but I really liked the density of Charlie's all VWG seitan recipe. It had a pleasant texture--not too chewy! I had to do some substituting based on what I had in my kitchen, so I wrote up a version of the recipe I ended up making.

Marinate it, saute or roast it--it's recipe ready! Try it in Veggie Pho, Reuban Sandwiches, or Hakka Noodles! I have the most amazing recipe coming up for Seitan Tibs, made with berbere!

Seitan
Based on Charlie's recipe
Takes 1 hour
Makes 8 loaves of seitan

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup vegetarian mushroom flavored oyster sauce
2 Tablepoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup water
2 cups vital wheat gluten
6 Tablespoons nutritional yeast

In a large measuring cup, mix together the wet ingredients.

In a large bowl, mix together vital wheat gluten and nutritional yeast.  Pour the wet into the dry and stir together to combine.

Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until the dough is nice and smooth, about 10 minutes.  Shape into a log. Let the dough rest while you heat the water.

Place a steamer basket or wire rack on the bottom of a stock pan, and fill to just below the basket/rack. Heat on medium until steaming and just barely bubbling.

Slice the seitain log into 1-inch thick slices, and knead them a little into obloid shapes.  Place in a single layer (if you can) on the steamer rack.  Cover the pan and turn the heat down to low.

Let seitan steam for 40 minutes, turning them over after the first 10 minutes, and then once more more about 25 minutes into cooking.

Let rest for at least 10 minutes (and preferably overnight), and the seitan is now ready to be used in recipes!