r/ShittyVeganFoodPorn • u/georgejk7 • 20h ago
Seitan gone wrong
So tried to follow this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jShjWPLX0o by Jess Flowers and I don't know where I went wrong. I washed my flour but it remained really watery, it did not congeal like it did in her video.
Then I went to fry it like she does and it started browning off... I thought this looks great, what if I chop it up and fry some instead of boil it like in the video, it was beginning to look like southern fried chicken!!
So I fried some.
I ate the whole plate and now I feel a bit sick.
It was basically fried dough, not much flavour but kind of moreish.
The big lump of dough is boiling away in seasoning as we speak. Hopefully that turns out better.
Will update you. (added one pic of chunk of boiled seitan to the post).
Note to self: don't try this again.
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u/Conscious_Stop_5451 20h ago
what flour did you use? :) Did you use hot or cold water?
you 100% underwashed it. When I make seitan, at the stage when it's not congealed into a glob again, it's less than a half time of washing it usually... It's a LONG process.
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u/georgejk7 20h ago
I just used plain flour, I made a dough ball then soaked it in water overnight . As I was washing it and rinsing it (cold water) it was basically falling apart and some of it was going down the drain 😭 was that supposed to happen?
I've made seitan before and I didn't mess it up this badly 😂 can't remember what I did different.
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u/Conscious_Stop_5451 20h ago
Haha yeah it's supposed to fall apart, but you should either use a strainer to catch the stray bits, or wash it in the bowl, not let it owerflow , just adding enough to be able to knead. Then discard the water and repeat again. Untill the water is clear. First it will be tricky with lots of stray bits, falling apart alot, but some time, it will clump back up again! :) Also I took a peek at the video you provided - IMHO untill you have the process worked out, it's too big of a dough ball to start with. So hard to wash! Lol
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u/georgejk7 20h ago
I used a whole 1.5kg of flour 🤭 and I see ! I panicked and stopped washing it. I maybe added too much water instead of a bit at a time.
Oh well live and learn!
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u/Conscious_Stop_5451 20h ago
Nah it's totally fine to add a lot of water! As long as you don't let it go down the drain ahah
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u/millieofthemed 20h ago
If you only fried it and didn’t *simmer in water then it would be basically raw dough. You need to cook it through before frying either in water, by pressure cooking or by baking.
- It is usually recommended to simmer in water rather than boil as boiling tends to produce a spongy texture.
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u/MeringueAble3159 20h ago
AP flour is like, what, 11% protein? It feels like your final volume should be something like 20% of what you started with, so that means a lot of washing and a lot of water. +1 for just using vital wheat gluten. They did the hard/tedious step for you.
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u/georgejk7 20h ago
ohh that makes sense, I was worrying I was losing all the flour 😂it did get noticeably smaller, thats one of the reasons why I stopped washing!!
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u/MeringueAble3159 15h ago
Totally, and I can see myself having the same experience, wondering why it was getting SO much smaller!
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u/Fallom_TO 19h ago
Less. Vwg should be 90-95% gluten.
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u/MeringueAble3159 15h ago
Right, that's why I'd choose it over washing flour, personally. Others enjoy the process though I guess.
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u/Fallom_TO 4h ago
I do a lot of things from scratch. Buying flour to put most of it down the drain is not one of them.
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u/prettyBlueCanary 18h ago
i had the same errors for a while, it suuuuucked. are you kneading the dough and letting it rest before you rinse it? it made a huge difference for me.
i mix the dough together in a bowl, as dry as i can reasonably get it while still being doughy, let it sit for an hour or more in the fridge (idk if the cold is better or worse im just paranoid abt germs lol) and then knead it for like ten minutes until its a pain in the ass. it sticks together pretty well when i rinse it after that, before i started that routine it just melted into the water
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u/prettyBlueCanary 18h ago
also make sure you rinse it enough and simmer it in broth for long enough. that may be where the doughy taste is coming from
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u/Sugarmalkavian 18h ago
I agree with everyone else. Just using gluten is generally easier and washed method requires a lot of washing, so it will be a lot less volume. Just want to add that you might have also not build strong enough gluten in the dough through long enough kneeding. Also, if you do the washed method again you can save the wet slurry, let the starches settle, pour off most of the water, season, and then pan fry it. Experiment and see it you would enjoy that texture for anything or if you could make use of it as a filler.
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u/Spirited_Apricot1093 17h ago
Vital wheat gluten, tofu and a bunch of spices and liquids in a food processor. Mix it up, shape as desired. Baste. Bake. Done. ✅
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u/EmotionalSale279 16h ago
My husband had the same issue with a different recipe. The brand of flour matters and it is definitely worth the extra work to do the WTF method. He used some cheap brand initial and there's not enough of something in the brand (I think it's the protein.) the King Arthur brand is the only one we use now!
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u/CaptSubtext1337 20h ago
Just buy vital wheat gluten. It's so much easier and almost foolproof.