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What could be easier than throwing everything into your slow cooker? I love to simmer like this for the best shreds, and it works awesome for cutlets or a roast, too. You can always add more seasoning to the dough, (especially if roasting) but this amount leaves the seitan "open" to be used as you would chicken in lots of dishes. Hang on to that broth cause it makes an amazing soup base or gravy!
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare your dough ball for washing. New to washing flour? Check out the video or follow steps 1-7 here. For the most shreddy results, you want to wash the flour pretty thoroughly, to the cloudy/hazy stage.
While your dough ball is resting in water, prepare your simmering liquid. I add everything into my slow cooker and get it heating up. A 6 qt Instant Pot on the slow cooker "normal" setting works great, too.
IMPORTANT: My broth stayed at a steady temperature of about 190F (85C). If cooking on the stove make sure it stays below a simmer after adding in the seitan. You want it to be barely bubbling or you could wind up with spongey results.
Once your gluten has drained for at least 20 minutes after washing, add it to a blender (working in batches if necessary) with 2T of chickun bouillon. Blend until those ingredients are evenly incorporated.
After processing, let your gluten rest about another hour on the counter or until the strands have developed enough so you can stretch it without breaking. You'll want to be able to stretch it enough to tie in a couple big knots for roasting, or even more for shreds, twisting the dough as you knot.
If you're making cutlets, divide the dough into 4-6 pieces first (depending on the size you want) and knot them individually. I then press them out into more "cutlet" shapes and let them rest for another 10 minutes so they flatten out a little bit.
Add your dough to the preheated broth and let it slowly cook for about 1 1/2-2 hours (about 30-40 minutes for cutlets). No need to flip it if it's covered in liquid.
TIP: Some people have said their dough take longer to cook than 2 hours. It should feel a little tough/stiff and have the ability to stay together. Mine typically floats when it's done, but others have reported theirs did not. This may be because it can stick a little to the bottom.
When it's done, let it come to room temperature and then strain the broth. If shredding, you can do this while it's still warm. I like to put the seitan back into the strained broth and let it rest in the fridge like this overnight. The next day pull it out of the broth to let it dry a bit, and finish by using in a stir fry, curry, marinate for the grill, or any way you would normally use chicken.
IF ROASTING: Preheat the oven to 325F. Pull the seitan out of the broth so it comes to room temperature and has a chance to drain.
You can add the optional basting ingredients to a small pot on the stove and bring to a simmer, then lower the temp so it stays warm. Add the optional rice paper skin, if using. Coat the bottom of a roasting pan with about 3/4-1c of the simmering broth.
Cover and cook to heat through for about 45 minutes, basting about every 15. For the final 15 minutes, leave it uncovered. For a darker, crispier skin, baste one final time and set your oven to broil for a few minutes.
Servings 4
More Chickun Recipes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare your dough ball for washing. New to washing flour? Check out the video or follow steps 1-7 here. For the most shreddy results, you want to wash the flour pretty thoroughly, to the cloudy/hazy stage.
While your dough ball is resting in water, prepare your simmering liquid. I add everything into my slow cooker and get it heating up. A 6 qt Instant Pot on the slow cooker "normal" setting works great, too.
IMPORTANT: My broth stayed at a steady temperature of about 190F (85C). If cooking on the stove make sure it stays below a simmer after adding in the seitan. You want it to be barely bubbling or you could wind up with spongey results.
Once your gluten has drained for at least 20 minutes after washing, add it to a blender (working in batches if necessary) with 2T of chickun bouillon. Blend until those ingredients are evenly incorporated.
After processing, let your gluten rest about another hour on the counter or until the strands have developed enough so you can stretch it without breaking. You'll want to be able to stretch it enough to tie in a couple big knots for roasting, or even more for shreds, twisting the dough as you knot.
If you're making cutlets, divide the dough into 4-6 pieces first (depending on the size you want) and knot them individually. I then press them out into more "cutlet" shapes and let them rest for another 10 minutes so they flatten out a little bit.
Add your dough to the preheated broth and let it slowly cook for about 1 1/2-2 hours (about 30-40 minutes for cutlets). No need to flip it if it's covered in liquid.
TIP: Some people have said their dough take longer to cook than 2 hours. It should feel a little tough/stiff and have the ability to stay together. Mine typically floats when it's done, but others have reported theirs did not. This may be because it can stick a little to the bottom.
When it's done, let it come to room temperature and then strain the broth. If shredding, you can do this while it's still warm. I like to put the seitan back into the strained broth and let it rest in the fridge like this overnight. The next day pull it out of the broth to let it dry a bit, and finish by using in a stir fry, curry, marinate for the grill, or any way you would normally use chicken.
IF ROASTING: Preheat the oven to 325F. Pull the seitan out of the broth so it comes to room temperature and has a chance to drain.
You can add the optional basting ingredients to a small pot on the stove and bring to a simmer, then lower the temp so it stays warm. Add the optional rice paper skin, if using. Coat the bottom of a roasting pan with about 3/4-1c of the simmering broth.
Cover and cook to heat through for about 45 minutes, basting about every 15. For the final 15 minutes, leave it uncovered. For a darker, crispier skin, baste one final time and set your oven to broil for a few minutes.
How much protein does 1 serving of bread flour without the starch? and calories?
Unfortunately calculating the macros from washed flour can be a bit tricky, because everyone washes differently. To get something pretty close to accurate, you could weigh your starting flour, dehydrate your washed starch, weigh that, and subtract its nutritional info from your flour.
The way I guestimate is by starting with an amount I might normally wash. So, for example, if you start with 6 cups of flour, and that has 4g protein per 1/4 cup serving, you have 96 grams of protein. If you’re lucky enough to wash away only starch and no protein (though I imagine there would be some, even if minimal, protein loss) and you wash thoroughly enough that your yield can be divided into 4 servings, you’re at 24g protein/serving.
You can roughly calculate calories similarly. In my research I have learned that protein and starch calories are measured the same, so I assume that to mean that when I wash starch away, I can approximate calories by weight. Again 6 cups of flour, totaling 2,640 calories, when formed into a ball with water, weighs “x.” If by washing I have decreased that weight (or volume?) by 2/3, (about 1/3 of my starting weight remains), that would leave approximately 880 calories (again, a guess). Then divide that into # of servings, again I usually get 4, and that’s 220 calories/serving.
Disclaimer: I am not a registered dietician, doctor, or nutritionist. I am giving you an idea of how to calculate based on how I wash, but am not claiming accuracy. Regardless, I hope you find this helpful. For more information on protein and nutrition from using standard vital wheat gluten, check out this post: http://seitansociety.com/is-seitan-healthy/
Have you tried this with a pressure cooker? If not could you hazard a guess as to how long? And wrapped or in the stock?
I have steamed it, wrapped in my pressure cooker on a trivet with water filled to just below the trivet. It works great but you’ll lose a lot of flavor from the broth that way so I typically only do it if I plan to heavily season after. I think about 1 1/2 hours steaming at this size works. If you have an Instant Pot you could also use the slow cook function set to “less” and cook it for a couple hours in the broth. I haven’t tried pressure cooking in liquid, so it might work, but my concern would be that the high temperature could cause it to expand and get spongy as it absorbs broth.
We have the smaller InstantPot so the entire batch may not fit, but I might try the wrap and pressure cook method on some of it. Mostly I would like some shreds for stir fry or something along that line, so the lesser flavour wouldn’t be as big a deal as it would get a lot from the dish itself. I do appreciate your reply! Really enjoying this Seitan journey, and I’mma try my hand at cheese with the starch!
I have a WTF chickun question but not directly your recipe. I made my second WTF mock-meat. The first time I just followed your instructions and it all worked out well; used in a curry. This time I though I would try a variation after seeing the Crazy Asian Ham where he added vegan butter. I thought that might improve the flavor so folded in 2 table spoons of vegan butter/margarine (+salt, onion powder, garlic) I set the shape by rolling in dough in foil and baking for 40 mins @320F then transferred to a slow cooker with an off-the-shelf chicken-less broth (president choice brand) and simmered 2 hrs. The taste was great, the shred was good even though I did not knot (I did rest it after cooking for 24hrs in fridge). Used in a Gordon Ramsey recipe for chicken pot pie which turned out amazing !
So here is the question….. my chickun was grey, I don’t see anything in the ingredients used, no mushroom powder for eg. What would cause the grey color? could it be the baking ?
It could be the cooking method, but sometimes I notice a more gray result over others, and any green spices in the poultry seasoning I think affect it most of all. I often make broth mixes from scratch and if it’s more herby than other times I tend to notice it more, especially if I let it sit in the broth. If it’s really a concern, you can try titanium dioxide. A 1/4 tsp when I start with about 1kg flour is enough to combat it. It’s a controversial ingredient and would encourage you to do your own research, but it works!
Hi!
About how long does this last in the fridge/freezer?
Thank you!
I usually go about a week to 10 days in the fridge, and well-sealed should keep several months in the freezer. It’s better to keep it out of the broth when storing for that long.