Class time again and Seitan/Tofu Roast

I am in a program development class this week and will be back home Friday evening. Class goes from 8-5 with a 1 1/2 hour break, 3 credit hours in a week but there is a large 50 page research paper due by October. I am staying in a sorority house, which will serve breakfast and supper, but that means I might get a boiled veggie for supper and a peice of fruit for lunch. I planned ahead for this lack of vegan food choices, but traveled light knowing I could pick a few things up from the grocery store.

So here's the plan for country vegan living in an urban sorority house all week:

I brought a container of sliced seitan roast with me, along with leftovers of a quinoa casserole for lunch, a large container of roasted cauliflour, and roasted beets from last Thursday's market. I measured out enough rolled oats to prepare a soymilk/ oat/ fruit breakfast bowl each morning. But today I decided to eat the Carob Crunch Bakehouse granola this morning with a great soy late. I also brought some New Jersalem pita pocket breads, I like these and a bag of swiss chard from my garden.

What I bought at the store (to complete lunches and non vegan option suppers):
some genisoy chips (deep sea salted and garlic/onion), 2 Newman's organic dark chocolate bars, a quart of organic soymilk, one honey dew melon, two roma tomatoes, organic romaine lettuce, pecan peices, a can of chuncky veggie soup and a microwavable lentil soup in a cup .... took awhile but I did find a couple of vegan options there. I did like that the Fantastic dry soup in a cup mixes (5 bean and lentil) said at the beginning of the ingredients list: vegan.

P.S. It's raining today and I have to take a 15 minute walk across campus to my class ... maybe I should skip the make-up job and enjoy it! Fortunately I brought my little umbrella. Also, I may not be able to post again until Saturday this week.

To keep you all fully in the seitan mode here's a recipe we enjoy very much. I do follow the ingredient wet and dry mixing, I do have my electric kitchen machine knead it 10 minutes, but then I add the liquid to my crock pot. I place the roast in and let it go on high overnight. The longer the roast gets kneaded the better, "stringier" the texture will become. You could even stop kneading for 10 minutes and then knead again for a few minutes for even better results.

BRYANNA’S NEW SOY AND SEITAN “HAM” (May 8, 2002)
FROM THE FREE VEGAN FEAST ARCHIVES

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

1/4 c. nutritional yeast flakes

2 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. garlic granules

1/4 tsp. white pepper

WET MIX:

1 c. hot water

1/2 c. soy “bacon” chips or bits (make sure this is a really tasty brand, like ClubHouse [made by McCormick’s] soy bacon “chips”, not the tasteless, salty, dark red bits thatyYou find in bulk)

12 oz. firm to extra-firm regular tofu (NOT silken), cut into small cubes

1/2 c. cold water

3 T. soy sauce

3 T. ketchup

COOKING BROTH:

2 c. hot water vegetarian “beefy” broth powder, cubes or paste for 2 c. broth

(or, if you have none, use regular vegetarian broth, a little weaker than normal, with 1 tsp. Marmite or other yeast extract added, or 2 tsp. dark miso)

1 T. vegetarian “chicken-style” broth powder

2 T. roasted sesame oil

2 T. maple syrup OR brown sugar

2 T. ketchup

2 tsp. liquid smoke

For the Wet Mix, in a blender, blend 1 c. HOT water with the soy “bacon” chips or bits. When it is almost smooth, add cold water, the soy sauce, tofu cubes, and ketchup. Blend until very smooth.

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.

(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.)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

The dough should be quite shiny and smooth. Avoid breaking it up when you take it out of the bowl. 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 8and1/2” 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. 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. Can be frozen.