making seitan

[bita]

i'm having trouble making it. it doesn't come out as hard as I want it to? any suggestions?

[Bruce Paine]

bita,

In "Cooking With Seitan : The Complete Vegetarian 'Wheat-Meat' Cookbook"
by Leonard (and Barbara) Jacobs ( http://www.gomf.macrobiotic.net/Books_Cook.htm ) and
( http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/se...269939-4290925 ), one learns that one can make texture differences in seitan depending on different flour combinations from soft to very firm and chewy.

The flours that one uses are Whole (hard red winter) Wheat, unbleached white, and gluten.

Apparently the gluten flour can produce a very firm and chewy texture seitan (used to make sausage-like links) or one that is soft (for dumplings and deep-fried puffs).

Medium to very firm (used in all basic preparation forms [cutlets, cubes, and strips] ) is made with either half WWFlour and half Unbleached White or all WWFlour, Medium firm (used to make pouches or stretchable gluten wrappers) is made with all WWFlour, and Firm and chewy (used for Ground Seitan plus the basic preparation forms [see Medium to very firm]) is made up of 40% WWFlour, 40% Unbleached White, and 20% Gluten flour.

All of these textural combinations use different amounts of liquids and yield different quantities of the gluten (uncooked seitan).

Get the book to learn more!

Thank you, very much.

Bruce Paine

[exmacro teacher]

Add some vital wheat gluten to it.