So I went to a gourmet vegan restaurant a few weeks ago and had the best seitan dish I've ever tasted. I almost never eat seitan, so I forgot what the texture was like. This seitan was so moist and tender that I didn't need a knife to eat it, I just cut it with my fork!
Fast forward to last night, when I decided to try making it myself from gluten flour (I made the seitan cutlet recipe from Veganomicon). It was SO rubbery when it was done that it was even hard to cut with a knife! I started wondering what I had done wrong.
But then it occurred to me, maybe the seitan at the restaurant was made from scratch (starting with whole wheat flour and kneading it in water until the rest of the flour is drained and you're left with the gluten). I've never made seitan from scratch before, so I don't know if the texture is different than when you make it by starting with gluten flour. I would think it would be softer, since there's all that water you're kneading the flour in, and chances are you won't get as "pure" gluten as buying mechanically extracted gluten flour.
Has anyone here made it both ways? Was the seitan from scratch more moist and tender? I'm not planning to make it again anytime soon, since I was so disappointed last night. I knew my seitan wouldn't taste exactly like the dish from the restaurant, but I was surprised at just how different it was.
Fast forward to last night, when I decided to try making it myself from gluten flour (I made the seitan cutlet recipe from Veganomicon). It was SO rubbery when it was done that it was even hard to cut with a knife! I started wondering what I had done wrong.
But then it occurred to me, maybe the seitan at the restaurant was made from scratch (starting with whole wheat flour and kneading it in water until the rest of the flour is drained and you're left with the gluten). I've never made seitan from scratch before, so I don't know if the texture is different than when you make it by starting with gluten flour. I would think it would be softer, since there's all that water you're kneading the flour in, and chances are you won't get as "pure" gluten as buying mechanically extracted gluten flour.
Has anyone here made it both ways? Was the seitan from scratch more moist and tender? I'm not planning to make it again anytime soon, since I was so disappointed last night. I knew my seitan wouldn't taste exactly like the dish from the restaurant, but I was surprised at just how different it was.