This is by no means an exhaustive or definitive list. Feel free to share anything you wish you knew when you first started making seitan that you think could help others out.
I like steaming. Back about 8 years ago I used to drop it in a pot of flavored broth. It was fine but I find that steaming it gives a way better texture and bite. If you simmer with a rolling boil it is spongy but I've learned browning it to set the size and then putting it in the broth is great. My steamer is a three-tiered steamer so it's perfect. I don't ever want to bake Seitan again. it came out like flavored bread. Yuck. I made your pepperoni recipe because, for the life of me, I can't remember mine from years ago. Made it only once. Yours was perfect. My hubby was like make some more. LOL He's not Vegan and he loves everything I make.
I think one the biggest reasons why I don't steam is that I don't like my steaming equipment, which I really should remedy. So glad you like the pep! I was thinking about looking at that recipe again and upgrading it at some point. If you make any changes you like, let me know, would love to hear about them.
I have just found that steaming gives me a much better texture for me. I steamed loaves, then refrigerated and sliced and fried slabs for veggie burgers. Even the neighborhood boys go for them, although with cheese and even an egg if they´re available. But the foundation is the slab of veggie burger, fresh from my kitchen. I use a bunch of cooked and smashed up veggies kneaded with a lot of gluten.
Thanks for the clear presentation of the process. It helps reduce the anxiety of making seitan to have a clear sense of the order and reasons for the steps of the technique.
I think one thing that is worth sharing with other people is that if you are using vital wheat gluten you can use an acid, like vinegar to neutralize the bad aftertaste that VWG gets. I also saw a post that said that you can toast the VWG in the pan before you hydrate it to do the same thing, but i haven't tested it yet.
You're right on, I've had the most issues with steaming, but that might be an equipment thing/user error. I've been baking in stock lately and loving the easier temp control vs simmering as well.
I've never commented to any video before, WOW. I was quite sceptical when first I came across this, happened to have some Vital wheat gluten, and found most of the spices herbs etc, so had a go,I still cannot believe the result, absolutely fantastic, I shall be trying all types, I can't wait to try the ham and beef seitan. Thanks you have opened my eyes.
Thanks so much! Glad you liked it, as it was more difficult than I thought it would be to organize all this in video format. Just happy it is coherent!
Lol, I'm 64 now. My mom used to make seitan since I was a child. Even though we weren't vegitarian, we ate it and I still love it. Thank you for the video.
Hi, I´m a novice seitanista, but I´m pretty captured right now. I just mixed a bunch of veggies (shredded to fineness 1/2 cabbage, cooked to a puree, cooked lentils, whole but they should have been puréed, sweet potato kneaded onto the mash. Next one will be better. I´m planning it now. Puree everything, starting with a can of chick peas, include the juice, nutritional yeast, potatoes, carrots, onion, peanut butter I think, Beyond Bullion bullion and lots of gluten kneaded in. I´m so optimistic.
My issue with making seitan is that they all taste the same to me and have the same strange consistency. I use vital wheat gluten and not washed flour. I just found your channel so hopefully i will be a pro in no time :D
I'm fairly new to seitan making and I have incorporated 2 things that make the seitan taste different for different recipes and to reduce the bready flavor. I heavily season the dough as well as the simmering broth. For chicken or turkey style, I use garlic powder, onion powder and Bell's poultry seasoning. For beef style, I used garlic powder, onion powder and Marmite. Sometimes I add a bit of paprika, smoked paprika or chili powder to the beef style. To reduce the bready flavor, I have found that a little apple cider vinegar really cuts down the bready flavor. Happy cooking!
Thank u, so much for breaking every method down…I need to try it again. The first time I made it, I boiled it and the Seitan plumped up so much it made the water boil up out of the pot🤦🏽♀️😣😆 and it turned out spongy like u said. It was a disaster. So now I’m ready to make some more since I know I don’t have to just steam it( no steamer)🤷🏽♀️
Just started experimenting with seitan and this is a perfect overview of various methods :) What do you think about leaving the prepared dough in the fridge for a whole night/day? Also interested to hear your opinion on adding a bit of cornstartch to the dough
Glad this is useful! Letting the prepped dough rest overnight should be 100% fine, but this really depends on the recipe. I've never let it rest that much myself, but I don't see why it wouldn't be a good thing. Usually the more rest, the better (within reason) for gluten. As far as cornstarch, I've never done that either! Do you know what purpose that would serve for the final product?
@@BoldFlavorVegan Thanks for the answer! I would assume the cornstartch (or some other startch) would serve the purpose of adding some of the lost startches back to the gluten flour, making it more like the washed flour method which I would assume leaves some of the startches to the final result. This is just speculation on my part, I followed this recipe from youtube: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7i8jLeofOJI.html
Do a video on how to make the texture not chewy like tough meat. For example starch coats the protein n makes it easier to chew. Only thing is what starch is best. Potatoes? Chickpeas? A little all purpose flour? Then how much of that starch. That's what I struggle with. I been vegan a long time so I have recipes but can't get the right starch protein ratio to get a decent chew texture. I don't eat meat for a reason partly being the chewy textures. Don't want that in my vegan foods. Yes something to bite down on for sure but no chewy though steak texture. Got any tips or recipes for a foolproof texture / starch to protein ratio?
I'm a very good cook except for seitan. Doesn't matter the ingredients, I'm always disappointed at the texture and, most of all, no matter what I do, the bready or wheaty or whatever you want to call it, aftertaste.
😧it's complicated, here's why...some are confused over the vital wheat gluten and the WTF method. I rarely use vital wheat gluten. However, it's been more work and poor results with WTF method. Perhaps more practice is needed when using vital wheat gluten. I noticed it takes a lot of gluten for making vegan chickun. Do you have a recipe which uses less gluten, and more of other plant based protein, such as chic peas, lentils, white beans, and tofu. What about homemade dehydrated textured soybean and vital wheat gluten, with some vegan broth? Have you ever tried it? Let me know ok? You're the expert. Take care, hugs from Vancouver BC
In my chickun cutlets video I use a recipe with blended beans and tofu, that might be what you're looking for! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wMQSUQ46A5E.html
My seitan is often hard on the outside and doughy in the middle. I usually wrap it in parchment paper and then foil. What's the best temperature and for how long?
Any time I've tried to make a pot pie with seitan, it just absorbs all the sauce and gets so big I can't seal the top pie crust. Am I doing something wrong? I feel like ever vegan YT creator I ask about this has never come across this problem.
Do you allow your seitan to rest overnight? It will get a stronger texture once it's been simmered/steamed or baked. When I don't do a fry before the simmering, my seitan can be spongy. Simmering at a higher heat will also make a spongy seitan. So for a pot pie, I make a seitan that I can then shred and I fry the shreds as well before putting in my pot pie. It gives it an amazing texture. Another trick, I find using cooked seitan that has been frozen seems to have an amazing texture as well.
This is a great response, only thing I would posit is that it would probably be best to simmer/slow cook the seitan so that it absorbs most of it's liquid before being put in the pie. You can also add the seitan to the gravy and let it sit for a bit, then adjust the consistency of the liquid before the crust is added. In my recipe the only point of the bake is to get the gravy how and the crust cooked. Alternatively, if you buy frozen seitan from the store, this should be an issue. I talk about how I prefer my pot pie to not be soupy in my recipe, so you could use this and just add stock as needed: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8ePu-tyIxJI.html
Seitan does taste like the real thing, which is the pro's of it. I've made pepper steak and a vegan beef pot roast, and it tastes like the real thing! DELICIOUS!! YUM!! But there are also the cons of this that I have acknowledged, after slicing my deli sliced seitan vegan Roast Beef Pot Roast and making a delicious cold cut sandwich. I as an older woman have sat and eatten a delicious seitan cold cut sandwich late night, and drinked water unfortinately not enough to digest the seitan. And my second wrong decission was going to bed too early after eatting it, and drinking a bottle or 2 within 2 to 3 hrs b4 bed. But unfortunately I didn't know, was that being of an older age I should drink plenty water before laying down and going to sleep. Also that I should sit up and make sure I digested the seitan I had eatten with plenty water b4 laying down and going to sleep. I am thankful I am a person who keeps water next to my bed, because when I woke in the middle of the night I found myself struggling to breathe! And it felt like a baby elephant was sitting on top of my chest, my breathing was waspy and I reach in a panic for my water near my bed side. Took a swollow, and I felt a lump in my throat, I took a couple more swallows and the lump moved and began to go down my asophygus down into my digestive and I regained my breathing and regained my strength to stand up from sitting on the end of my bed. It was the most horrifying experience ever, but I learnt something that night. Never eat seitan and go right to bed to sleep, always make sure you hydrate your digestive with plenty water to digest your seitan cold cuts or beef strips. And be sure to sit up 2 to 3 hrs b4 bed after eatting a seitan meal, other than that I still say Seitan is scumptously and amazingly Delicious 😋😋😋! I feel this should be a warning for the older elder age, being our digestives serm to become slow and sluggish in older ages than in that of young people 😊😉👍🏾
Do you have any recipes that don't use oil. I'm a plant based foodie and don't really like to use oil in my recipes. I noticed that your seitan recipes do use oil. Just trying to find something to eat!!!
Connie Raw some has some really good chicken satien meat she uses peanut butter which gives it an amazing flavour also another utuber make an excellent ginger beef so good l teasted it out on family they couldn't even notice it was satien served it with rice yah!!! l fooled them😀
@@BoldFlavorVegan lm gonna make your ham it looks so good make the that you made with the flour looks awesome and l beat it taste delicious as well 😋😌👍
Can you help me Please WHAT ARE THE BEST FLAVORING PRODUCTS FOR SEITAN ? i mean that i want only one simple thing to put the meat flavor instead of a group of specific hard to find little things ! YOU KNOWN ! the flavors i loking for are (ham/sausage) cow meat And peperoni
Ah - yes, you jogged my memory. My first time ever making seitan was with steaming and I used an Isa Chandra sausage seitan recipe with pinto beans.I'll have to do find that. Had totally forgotten that. Also glad you liked the info. Took me a while to get it into a digestible format for video!
Its low in one of the amino acids (types of protein), Lysine. Other than that its incredible high in protein. I'm a few months into hypertrophy (muscle building) with weights at the gym, and needed solid protein. I googled and found a bunch of foods that are great sources of lysine, including pumpkin seeds. So... I tried my first tiny batch of seitan, threw in ground pumpkin seeds... I can not tell you if it works or not lol! Just an idea The texture was amazing, definetly can tell the protein is working for muscle recovery like i need it to. The taste is something I'll be working on! Worth it. I also used same brand, Anthony's. I read SDA have great recipes, and thanks @constancebI7774 for the thread about french recipes.
I prefer Anthony's but Bob's Red Mill is fine too. If you are interested I do a comparison between the two in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-syd3dGgbJrw.html