Vital wheat gluten can be found in the baking section of many grocery stores.
Assemble the dry ingredients of wheat gluten powder, spices, and herbs. Combine in a large bowl and whisk together.
In a medium bowl, mix together spices of your choice. In the past, I have used garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, oregano, tamari or soy sauce, vegetarian "oyster" sauce, tahini
Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture. It will thicken very quickly. Begin to knead everything together for approximately 3 minutes.
Set to the side and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Then knead another 2-3 minutes. The longer you knead, the chewier the seitan will be after baked.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and press seitan into the pan. Bake at 325 for 40 minutes.
Remove from oven and slice or dice to use in your favorite recipes. One of my personal favorites is to place in the crock pot with barbecue sauce. Allow to cook on low for 1 hour. By allowing the seitan to cook slowly in the barbecue sauce for at least an hour, it achieves a tender, pulled texture.
Remove from the crockpot. Use a couple of forks to pull and shred the seitan apart. This can be shredded in a food processor, but I like mine chunkier and did it by hand. Then place back into the crockpot with barbecue sauce and cook 6-8 hours on low. Serve warm on whole grain buns. We added fresh spinach leaves and sliced onion to ours. Delish!
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Notes
Detailed instructions, in-process photos, and my personal helpful tips can be found in the article above. Seitan has a mild, bland flavor on its own but can take on many more flavors from different recipes. The thing that makes seitan most popular is its texture, more than taste. When compared to tofu or tempeh, seitan has a much more meaty texture.It can be savory and succulent for Asian dishes like Soba Noodles with Seitan and Sweet and Sour Stir Fry or tangy and saucy in a barbecue recipe like Shredded Barbecue Sandwiches.