Main Ingredients:

See below ingredients and instructions of the recipe

Cooking Preparation of the Recipe:

6 c Whole wheat bread flour
-(Stone-ground), -=OR=-
-Hi-gluten unbleached white
3 c Water (or more),
-(depending on the amount
- of gluten in the flour)
1/2 c Tamari
12 sl Fresh ginger
-(each about 1/8" thick)
1 Piece kombu, about 3" long

Yield: 14 ounces uncooked; 16 ounces cooked Time: 1 hour preparation;
2 hours cooking

Mix the flour and water by hand or in a machine to make a
medium-stiff but not sticky dough. Knead the dough by hand on a
breadboard or tabletop, until it has the consistency of an earlobe,
or by machine until the dough forms a ball that follows the path of
the hook around the bowl. You may need to add a little extra water or
flour to achieve the desired consistency. Kneading with take about
10 to 12 minutes by machine. Allow the dough to rest in a bowl of
cold water for about 10 minutes.

While the dough is resting, prepare the stock. In a large pot, bring
to boil 3 quarts of water. Add the tamari, ginger, and kombu, and
cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. This stock
must be cold before it's used. (The cold liquid causes the gluten to
contract and prevents the seitan from acquiring a bready texture.)
You will be using this stock to cook the seitan later.

To wash out the starch, use warm water to begin with. Warm water
loosens the dough and makes the task easier. Knead the dough,
immersed in water, in the bowl. When the water turns milky, drain it
off and refill the bowl with fresh water. In the final rinses, use
cold water to tighten the gluten. If you wish, save the bran by
straining the water through a fine sieve; the bran will be left
behind. Save the starch by allowing the milky water to settle in the
bottom of the bowl; slowly pour off the water and collect the starch,
which you can use for thickening soups, sauces, and stews.

When kneading, remember to work toward the center of the dough so
that it does not break into pieces. After about eight changes of
water, you will begin to feel the dough become firmer and more
elastic. The water will no longer become cloudy as you knead it. To
make sure you have kneaded and rinsed it enough, lift the dough out
of the water and squeeze it. The liquid oozing out should be clear,
not milky.

To shape the seitan, lightly oil a 1-pound loaf pan. Place the rinsed
seitan in the pan and let it rest until the dough relaxes. (After the
dough has been rinsed for the last time in cold water, the gluten
will have tightened and the dough will be tense, tough, and resistant
to taking on any other shape.) After it has rested for 10 minutes, it
will be much more flexible.

Seitan is cooked in two steps. In the first step, the dough is put
into a large pot with about 3 quarts of plain, boiling water. Boil
the seitan for about 30 to 45 minutes, or until it floats to the
surface. Drain the seitan and cut it into usable pieces (steaks,
cutlets, 1-inch chunks, or whatever) or leave whole. Return the
seitan to the cold tamari stock. Bring the stock to a boil, lower
temperature, and simmer in the stock for 1-1/2 to 2 hours (45 minutes
if the seitan is cut into small pieces). The second cooking step may
also be done in a pressure cooker, in which case it would take
between 30 to 45 minutes.

To store seitan, keep it refrigerated, immersed in the tamari stock.
Seitan will keep indefinitely if it is brought to a boil in the
tamari stock and boiled for 10 minutes twice a week. Otherwise, use
it within eight or nine days.

VARIATIONS: Instead of boiling the seitan in plain water and then
stock, let the seitan drain for a while after it has been rinsed.
Slice it and either deep-fry or saute the slices until both sides are
brown. Then cook it in the tamari stock according to the recipe.

Seitan also may be cooked (at the second step) in a broth flavored
with carrots, onion, celery, garlic, tamari, and black pepper, which
will give it a flavor similar to pot roast. Shiitake mushrooms may
also be added to the stock.

Source: Friendly Foods - by Brother Ron Pickarski, O.F.M. ISBN:
0-89815-377-8 Typed (mistakes and all) by Karen Mintzias

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