All of the recipes on this blog are vegetarian (and sometimes vegan), but I try to post recipes that would appeal to eaters of all persuasions. This recipe, though, is a very vegetarian recipe, so look away meat-eaters and others who are appalled that people eat "meat substitutes." (Eat Me Daily reamed me a few years ago on this exact same recipe. It was hilarious.)Instead of thinking of tofu or seitan as meat substitutes, it'd be much more open-minded of you to think of them as real food. Because that's what they are. If you can't, that's fine.
This post is more of a reference for me, because I plan on making this roast frequently. This year, I'd like to get away from buying Tofurky slices and make my own soy-seitan roasts. I managed to bake my own bread last year (except maybe three store-bought loaves), which is quite a feat considering I go through a loaf a week packing sandwiches for work every day. Now I just need to make my own sandwich innards.
This really is my favorite homemade seitan, partly because it's not really seitan. Seitan I make at home is a bit too chewy and dense (I've tried many recipes), but this recipe combines tofu, wheat gluten, and chickpea flour to make a loaf that is somewhere between the dense texture of seitan and the squishy texture of tofu.
The original recipe from Bryanna is a jumbled mess on her website, and the notes I took and posted a few years ago about my experience and alterations didn't include a written recipe, so I'm constantly clicking between the two pages in frustration. No more!
Update 11/17/10: I was recently contacted by Bryanna Clark Grogen, who requested I reiterate that the recipe posted here is an adaptation of the original recipe she had posted on her site, specifically, that my cooking directions and techniques are different than hers. If you are curious as how I came about my cooking procedure, you can check out my previous post where I discuss my experiences with the recipe.
Soy and Seitan Roast
makes 1 big honkin' loaf or 2 bread-pan-sized loaves
The recipe is as simple as mixing dry ingredients with wet ingredients to make a dough, then baking the dough in a basting liquid.
Seasonings can be adjusted to preferences, or switched out for others. Maybe maple syrup, sage, and liquid smoke for something breakfast-y next time? These freeze well, too.
Dry Ingredients2 cups gluten flour
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Wet Ingredients15 ounces firm tofu, broken into smaller pieces
1 1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
- Place all wet ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
- Pour wet ingredients into bowl with dry ingredients and stir until incorporated.
- Turn dough out onto a clean surface and knead for 10 minutes.
- Let dough rest for 1 hour.
- Shape dough into a loaf (one large flat-ish loaf or multiple smaller loaves), and place loaf in a baking dish with plenty of room to accommodate basting liquid.
Basting Broth2 cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves crushed garlic
1-2 tablespoons fresh rosemary
1 bay leaf
- Combine all ingredients for the basting broth in a bowl.
Baking Instructions- Line a baking pan with parchment paper, than place shaped loaf in pan. Pour basting liquid over the dough in the baking dish.
- Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 1 hour 15 minutes.
- Remove dish from oven, and if there is still a lot of basting liquid left in the pan, dump out all but just a little bit of the liquid.
- Carefully flip the roast with the help of a spatula or two. Flipping the roast allows what was once the bottom of the roast to brown.
- Place the roast back in the oven, and bake for an additional 30 minutes.
- Serve immediately, or let roast cool. When roast is completely cooled, it can be wrapped in foil and frozen for later use.
14 comments:
Oh this is fun! I love seitan, but some times buying stuff from a package does intimidate me a bit. Making it on my own would be great so that I can see everything that's being put into it. Thanks for sharing.
I think this is a pretty decent roast, I was actually magically drawn to your post upon seeing the nice photo in my new blog rss reader :) I immediately saved the recipe :D I would most likely add some malted sugar or brown sugar for slight sweetness (the main appeal of "real" meat is slight fattiness and slight sweetness, aside from the savory part), some good stuffing and a mushroom demi glace sauce.. red wine demi glace is probably too overloaded.. ah, but you made it for sandwiches, so my own ideas are going here in other direction :D Ha ha, I just realized I read your blog in Google Reader since so many years and this is my very first comment. Your page is really good :D
I was idly thinking about this food - as you do - when it occurred to me that with the right seasonings this might make an even better parmesan base than either chicken or eggplant. What do you think?
libitina - Thinly sliced, I could see this smothered in tomato sauce, especially as a sandwich.
Hey Taylor,
Do you know where I can find reasonably priced vital wheat gluten. I have only seen it at Whole Foods where it is almost 4 dollars for a small box.
Thanks,
Crystal
iamchokri - Check the bulk bins at Whole Foods and other health food stores for wheat gluten. Most recently I used a bag of Bob's Red Mill wheat gluten, which can also be found at health food stores and better grocery stores, and it seems to be a better value than the small Arrowhead Mills box of wheat gluten.
Taylor- I've made my own deli style loaves a few times now and they beat store bought hands down. For the vital wheat gluten, I used to be able to get it in bulk but haven't found it anywhere locally for a few years. So I get mine through Amazon's subscription program now, where they ship you a set amount of units on the schedule that you choose, and it works out to less than $3.00 a pound, I think (and they ship free!) The brand is Hodgson Mill, but it's probably worth a look to see if there are other brands that are cheaper. That's just the best price I've found so far, and the quality is great.
Well I've made it and it seems that my loaf texture and consistency is quite different from yours :( Its more bread-like like a classic seitan and not as juicy/meaty as your loaf looks :(. I think the problem might be with the temperature - it is probably too high for three smaller loaves and it dries them more... Also my loaves puffed a lot, it seems (from before&after pictures) that yours didn;t, is that so?
Pupa - I've made this recipe at least 20 times since posting it, and my results are always the same. I do always make it as one large loaf, though, so maybe try that. I then cut the cooked loaf into half or thirds and freeze what I cannot soon use. Hope you have better luck in the future.
Looks great! I'm going to try this for Thanksgiving. One question - am I correct that vital wheat gluten and gluten flour are different, and that I want gluten flour for this recipe?
mighty mighty - Vital wheat gluten and gluten flour are the same thing. There is such a thing as "high gluten flour," and it IS different (has a lower protein percentage than vital wheat gluten / gluten flour). Best of luck with the recipe!
I made this recipe the other night and I made it in three small loaves. It all came out light and airy, kind of like little loaves of bread. My dough was very smooth, not with the nice texture in the pictures. Did I do too good of a job with the kneading? I think what I made would be better if it was a little less light and airy and more dense. I'm going to try again this weekend and make one large loaf instead.
I used this recipe for Thanksgiving this year and it came out PERFECT. I added some balsamic vinegar to the basting liquid, which was great. After refrigerating it overnight, I decided to try putting it in the oven for a full 40 minutes at 350 to cook it a little firmer, which gave it that nice crusty texture on the outside that I love. Thank you so much! My guests were very impressed!
This is a great recipe, I have been cooking with seitan for ages and had been searching for a year or so for something like this. Your adaptation of this recipe is great and amazingly versatile. I am living Korea and here chickpea flour is hard to come by and so in several loafs I have replaced it with soy four and the result is quite similar (slightly softer.) I have messed around with tofu quantities, broth, seasonings etc and even though I am using a toaster oven to bake the loaf it always works out amazingly. Thanks for the sweet post!
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