After looking at a few recipes, this one stood out. I don't know if it is more or less work, but I have been pleased with the seitan I've made so far. I made it in a medium sized roaster with parchment paper under it and 'stuffed' it with stuffing. The dough shape just was what it was. It wanted to be that shape so I didn't fight with it. All my energy was taken up by kneading the thing for 20 minutes, once before it rested and once after - said jokingly, of course.The recipe says that seitan is best made the day before, allowing it to cool, then reheating it. That is what I am doing and why I made it yesterday, for the Canadian Thanksgiving. I'm also making a pecan pie, focaccia, sweet potatoes, and wild rice.
Here is the recipe straight from Bryanna's website:
BRYANNA'S NEW VERSION OF SOY AND SEITAN "TURKEY" (WITH STUFFED"TURKEY", STUFFING RECIPE, AND FAT-FREE GRAVY)
(March 15, 2002)
Makes about 3 lbs.
The combination of tofu and soy or chickpea flour with the gluten makes a seitan that is tender, not rubbery, and which slices easily, even in VERY thin slices. The long kneading, resting, and slow-cooking method partially adapted from recipe by Ellen from http://www.ellenskitchen.com gives an incredible juicy, tender meat-like texture. This recipe makes outstanding sandwich material.
DRY MIX:
2 c. pure gluten powder (instant gluten flour; vital wheat gluten)
1/2 c. full-fat soy flour or chickpea flour
1/2 c. nutritional yeast flakes
2 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic granules
1/4 tsp. white pepper
WET MIX:
12 oz. firm regular (NOT silken) tofu
1 and 1/2 c. water
3 T. soy sauce
1 T. olive oil
BASTING BROTH:
2 c. hot water
1/3 c. "chicken-style" vegetarian broth powder
2 T. olive oil
OPTIONAL: 4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2-1 tsp. poultry herbs (sage, thyme, rosemary), crushed well
1) For the Wet Mix, in a blender, blend all the ingredients until very smooth.
2) Mix the Dry Mix ingredients in the bowl of your electric mixer with dough hook attachment, or place them in the bread machine in the order given. Add the Wet Mix and knead for about 10 minutes. (If your bread machine has a dough cycle-two kneads with a long rest in between-use that cycle. Otherwise, just run it through the kneading part and then unplug it and let it rest in the cover container, then plug it in again for another knead, then remove it,) Let rest for about 1 hour, covered. You can make your Cooking Broth at this time and have it ready. Then knead it for 10 more minutes.
3) (NOTE: You can knead by hand, too, but it's tougher than bread dough. You may want to let the seitan dough sit for a while to soak up the liquid more thoroughly before you starting hand-kneading.)
4) The dough should be quite shiny and smooth. Avoid breaking it up when you take it out of the bowl. NOTE: I like to line the pan with cooking parchment to avoid sticking and tearing, and make the loaves easier to turn, by whichever method.
5) COOKING METHOD #1.) Flatten the dough out into a long piece. Form the dough into one large loaf. Place into a oval greased clay cooker or claypot that has been soaked for 15 minutes in cold water (bottom and cover), and lined with cooking parchment. DO NOT PREHEAT OVEN. Pour the cooking broth over the roast, and cover. Place in oven and turn to 325 degrees. F. Bake for 3 and 1/2 hours, turning the roast over twice (ALTERNATE TO THIS METHOD: If you don't have a clay cooker, you can use an ordinary oval meat or turkey roaster, medium size, with a cover. PREHEAT THE OVEN FIRST WITH THIS PAN.)
6) COOKING METHOD #2.) Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Flatten the dough out into a long piece and cut in half equally to make two rectangles. Form into 2 loaves. Place each loaf in an oiled 8 and1/2" x 4 and 1/2" loaf pan and press down a bit with your hand. Mix the Cooking Broth ingredients in a small bowl and pour 1/2 over each loaf. Cover each loaf pan with foil and place in the oven. Immediately reduce the oven heat to 200 degrees F. Bake for 3 hours. Turn the loaves over, carefully loosening around the edges and from the bottom with a small, thin spatula first. The loaves will have puffed up quite a bit by now, but they will flatten out as they cook further. Turn heat back to 325 degrees F. Cover loaves and bake for 30 minutes. Turn them over again, cover and bake 15 minutes. Turn them over again and bake 15 more minutes, covered. Turn them over one last time and bake 5-10 minutes (covered).
7 ) Either way, the loaves should almost completely soak up the broth by the end of the cooking time. If they don't, cook until they do. There will be a bit of sticky "sauce" left in the bottom, which you can use to glaze the loaves. Remove from the pans and serve, or let cool. Seitan is generally better when cooled first, then reheated-- it firms up when cooled. So, it's a good idea to make it a day or more before serving. Can be frozen. To reheat, wrap the the loaves (thaw them thoroughly first, if frozen) in a double wrapping of foil (drizzle the loaves with any remaining basting broth) and bake again in a roasting pan at 350 degrees F for 45-60 minutes.
8) IF YOU WANT A "SKIN" ON THE "TURKEY", bake the "turkey as directed above. Then it has to be bake again with the "skin", but the pre-baking can be done several days ahead of time.
You will need 2-4 large sheets of dried or fresh (probably frozen) Chinese beancurd skin (yuba in Japanese). This product is simply the "skin" that forms on the top of soymilk when it is heated (just as it does with ordinary milk). The "skin" is lifted off and dried, and is considered a delicacy in Chinese and Japanese cuisine. In its dried form, it keeps for a long time, as long as it is stored airtight. When reconstituted, wrapped around tofu or other fillings, and baked, it becomes delicately crispy.
Soak the dried beancurd skin in warm water to cover while you make the assemble the "turkey". If you are using fresh or frozen, fresh yuba, thaw it out, if necessary. If it is pliable, you can use it "as is". If it seems a bit dry and hard to fold, etc., then dip it in warm wate for a minute—just to soften. If you leave it in the water too long, it will start falling apart.
Oil a baking pan that the "turkey" fits into with a little room to spare, or a cookie sheet with sides (jelly roll pan) with the Chinese sesame oil. Line another pan, such as a cookie sheet, with the prepared beancurd skin, overlapping if necessary to make it big enough to cover the whole "turkey". (There will be overhang—this is good.) Place the roasted "turkey" on top. Fold the overhanging beancurd skin over the "turkey" to cover. Brush with olive and/or Chinese roasted sesame oil. Now invert th ewrapped "turkey" onto the prepared baking pan. If made ahead, cover the pan and refrigerate until baking time.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the "Turkey", uncovered, for about 1 hour, or til golden and crispy, basting now and then with oil (olive/sesame oil combination). Loosen the edges carefully and slide it onto a serving plate.
It’s best to bake stuffing on the side, in another pan,UNLESS YOU ARE MAKING A ROULADE (see below).
9) TO MAKE "TURKEY" ROULADES:
Cut the dough in half. Roll each half of the dough on a clean kitchen counter covered with a large pieces of plastic wrap (don’t use flour—if it sticks, it’s better to wet the counter, plastic wrap, your hands and the rolling pin with a bit of water) into a 10 x 15" rectangle. Spread 2 to 2 and 1/2 c. of your Stuffing over the dough, leaving a 1/2 an inch of dough uncovered on the short sides and 1 inch of dough on the long sides. Press the stuffing down into the seitan a bit and spread evenly. Using the plastic wrap as a guide, but not getting it wrapped up in the roulade (!!), roll the seitan and the stuffing into a tight roll. Smooth the "seam" so that you can hardly see it, using wet hands, and pull the seitan on the ends up, pinching together and smoothing so that there are no gaps or tears (you don’t want the Basting Broth to soak into the stuffing through any holes in the dough—make sure that it is "watertight")
Bake in two pans as directed above in method 1 or 2.
(Pack whatever extra you have after stuffing the seitan roulades into an 8" tube pan oiled with Asian sesame oil. You can use any sort of casserole or loaf pan, actually. Pack down and drizzle the top of the stuffing with more sesame oil. Cover with foil. This extra can be baked with the seitan roulades during the last 45 to 60 minutes of cooking.)
To reheat the roulades whole, wrap them in a double wrapping of foil and bake again in a roasting pan at 350 degrees F for 1 hour. Another way to serve it is to slices the roulades into even pieces about 1/2" thick and arrange them in a pleasing pattern on foil-covered baking pans (if your serving platters are round, use pizza pans). Cover with double foil and bake at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes, or until heated through. You can shift the slices onto serving platters by carefully lifting and sliding them along with the bottom layer of foil. Cut the excess foil from around the outer edge of the slices.
YOU CAN ALSO ENCASE THE ROULADES IN A YUBA "SKIN" AS DIRECTED ABOVE.
