Baked Seitan

For those of you who are new to the whole "vegan" thing you may not have ever heard of seitan.  I try to stay away from soy products as much as possible (for my own reasons) and so I don't eat a lot of tofu.  Seitan is what I eat in place of it and it is something I can make from scratch.  It is considered a meat replacement (vital wheat gluten is full of protein), but I don't like to neccesarily think of it like that.  I am not really trying to replace anything, I am just trying new things.  Switching to a plant based diet has opened a lot of doors and I have discovered a lot of new and interesting things to eat and I guess seitan is one of those things.  You can buy it at the store, but I like to make my own - that way I know what is in it. I am trying to not buy as many processed foods.

There are many recipes out there, but this one is what I've come up with and really like.  The fun thing about seitan is you can put your own favorite seasonings in it to make it your own.  You can steam or boil seitan, but I prefer to bake it in the oven, it gives it a more dense and "meatier" texture.  My favorite thing to make with it is reubens.  Mmmm... my mouth is watering just thinking about it.  Seitan is very versitile and I have a lot of fun coming up with new ideas for it.  I will be sure to share some of them on here!  Seitan can be used as a filler also, like beans - it is very filling like meat and a whole lot cheaper! So stay tuned and I will give you some yummy uses for your seitan!

 

Baked Seitan

Ingredients
1-1/2 cup vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp pepper
½ tsp cumin
¼ tsp cayenne
2 cloves garlic
3/4 cup cold water
1 Tbsp maple syrup
4 tsp A1 Steak Sauce
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp Better Than Bouillon No Beef Base
 

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Put all dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix together.  In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients (including garlic).  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with your hand -- until you can knead it like dough.  Knead until fully incorporated.  It should sort of resemble a firm ball of dough.

Roll into a log shape and wrap in 2 layers of aluminum foil -- twisting the ends to seal.

Bake for 90 minutes.