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Making these vegan pulled pork shreds from washed flour is by far the closest texture to the real thing. Slow cook in an easy, flavorful broth and finish on a grill, under a broiler, or shred it and eat it right out of the pot!
Ingredients
Directions
In a large bowl add 6 cups of bread or all-purpose flour (recommended protein of 11% or higher) and 2 cups of water. If your dough is not coming together (tough and crumbling apart) add a little bit more water. I typically add about another 1/4-1/2 cup as I knead. If you're dough is very sticky, add a little more flour. Knead for about 10 minutes or until your dough ball is cohesive and springs back a little when you push it. Cover the dough ball with cool water and let it rest for at least an hour, or up to 8. After resting in water your dough is ready to be washed.
If you're new to washing flour, you can follow this step by step guide.
While your dough ball is resting, prepare your simmering broth/marinade by adding all those ingredients to a slow cooker or pot.
TIP: I like to use my slow cooker for this as I find it much easier to maintain the proper temperature. Ideally you want your broth to stay just under a simmer, at about 190F/85C for the duration of the cooking time. A couple bubbles here are there are ok, but higher cooking temps can lead to spongy results.
Add the washed, drained dough ball to the processor or blender and process with the seitan seasoning ingredients until they are fully incorporated. If using a bowl you can knead and/or cut in the ingredients with the aid of a knife or kitchen scissors.
Transfer the seasoned dough ball to a cutting board and let it rest again (it will continue to lose some liquid) until the gluten has reformed and is stretchy. This can take about 20 mins - 1 hr. Once you are able, tie the dough in several knots, twisting as you go. This will create the shreds.
Simmer/poach in the broth and try to maintain a temperature as close to 190F/85C for about 1 1/2 hours. You'll know when it's done when it has become relatively solid/firm. Once cool enough to handle, you can shred it and add the shreds back into the liquid to let them marinate in the broth. I usually let them rest in the fridge this way overnight.
To finish, you can grill the shreds on skewers or in a grill basket for just a few minutes on each side on high, basting with barbecue sauce so it caramelizes. You can also do the same thing heating under your broiler. These will give the shreds some char. You can instead heat them through in a pan and add a little barbecue, or if you don't want to wait, shred and eat right out of the hot broth. 😊
Servings 4
More Porq Recipes
Ingredients
Directions
In a large bowl add 6 cups of bread or all-purpose flour (recommended protein of 11% or higher) and 2 cups of water. If your dough is not coming together (tough and crumbling apart) add a little bit more water. I typically add about another 1/4-1/2 cup as I knead. If you're dough is very sticky, add a little more flour. Knead for about 10 minutes or until your dough ball is cohesive and springs back a little when you push it. Cover the dough ball with cool water and let it rest for at least an hour, or up to 8. After resting in water your dough is ready to be washed.
If you're new to washing flour, you can follow this step by step guide.
While your dough ball is resting, prepare your simmering broth/marinade by adding all those ingredients to a slow cooker or pot.
TIP: I like to use my slow cooker for this as I find it much easier to maintain the proper temperature. Ideally you want your broth to stay just under a simmer, at about 190F/85C for the duration of the cooking time. A couple bubbles here are there are ok, but higher cooking temps can lead to spongy results.
Add the washed, drained dough ball to the processor or blender and process with the seitan seasoning ingredients until they are fully incorporated. If using a bowl you can knead and/or cut in the ingredients with the aid of a knife or kitchen scissors.
Transfer the seasoned dough ball to a cutting board and let it rest again (it will continue to lose some liquid) until the gluten has reformed and is stretchy. This can take about 20 mins - 1 hr. Once you are able, tie the dough in several knots, twisting as you go. This will create the shreds.
Simmer/poach in the broth and try to maintain a temperature as close to 190F/85C for about 1 1/2 hours. You'll know when it's done when it has become relatively solid/firm. Once cool enough to handle, you can shred it and add the shreds back into the liquid to let them marinate in the broth. I usually let them rest in the fridge this way overnight.
To finish, you can grill the shreds on skewers or in a grill basket for just a few minutes on each side on high, basting with barbecue sauce so it caramelizes. You can also do the same thing heating under your broiler. These will give the shreds some char. You can instead heat them through in a pan and add a little barbecue, or if you don't want to wait, shred and eat right out of the hot broth. 😊
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Thank you, that is very sweet of you to say and I’m so happy you enjoy the site! ❤️
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Thank you for saying so! 😊
Hi Jen – It’s probably in here somewhere on the site, but I can’t find it. Can you explain the difference between using the washed method vs. vital gluten to make Seitan? Can I use vital gluten in these recipes, and if so, what are the substitute ratios? Just discovered this site, but it looks awesome! Thanks.
Hi Michael, I don’t have a write up of the differences (I will definitely add that!) but in general, vital wheat gluten is washed flour that has been dehydrated and turned back into a flour. It’s basically “instant seitan – just add liquid.” Unfortunately there’s no golden ratio to substitute because with VWG you usually also want something to help break up the gluten strands a bit and make it a little less chewy. Recently I wrote up a recipe for shredded Italian beef using VWG, with instant potato flakes to help tame the gluten. If you’re looking for ratios and technique to make this pulled pork style dish, it would be a great place to start: http://seitansociety.com/recipes/slow-cooker-italian-beef-seitan/ Let me know if you have any other questions and happy to hear you like the site!
Hey Jen – Thanks for getting back to me. I did make the Italian beef sandwich and it was awesome! But the instant mashed potatoes I got were full of a bunch of other stuff. Do you have any idea if I could just use potato starch instead of instant mashed potatoes? If you don’t know, I’ll give it a try and let you know what I find out.
Looking forward to approximate substitute ratios for VWG, since I think the WTF method is mostly for weekend projects, and I’d like to be able to quickly whisk up a batch when needed. 🙂
I haven’t tried potato starch, so I’m not sure. If you can find Bob’s Red Mill brand instant potato flakes, there are no additives. Some people have made it with cooked potatoes, you would just need to use less wet ingredients in your dry/wet ratio. I imagine we both have some experiments on our horizons! 😊
Indeed! I live overseas, so no Bob’s here, unfortunately. But I did a bit of math. Your 450 flour yielded a 220 g dough ball. I am going to start with an assumption of a 1:1 VWG to water ratio and adjust as needed. So 450g flour is about the same as 110g VWG, and that equates to a ratio of about 26-27% of the starting weight of the flour. Again, I’ll let you know how it goes. I know it will be more chewy, so I think I’ll start with the prosciutto recipe. 🙂
Looking forward to hearing about your results!
I am trying so hard to get WTF to work…… no luck so far. I’m on attempt 5 and it was close but still dough-like. I kneaded for 40 mins in my stand mixer, steamed for 45mins to set the shape and simmered for 45 mins. The water is lightly opaque so longer washing maybe the best approach. Any thoughts on what next to try would be appreciated.
If the result is dough-like it could definitely be that you need to wash more. Try washing until the water is almost clear so you can get an idea of that texture. It should be chewier, not doughy. You don’t need to knead the dough for 40 minutes in a stand mixer. The video I have on the site shows 10 minutes by hand, but I don’t even knead that much anymore. After mixing the flour and water together I knead it for just a couple of minutes to make sure they are thoroughly combined and the gluten begins to develop. Then I let it rest for about 15 minutes out of the water and submerged for an hour. After washing be sure to really drain the dough – extra moisture can soften the end result. Finally, cooking at too high a temperature can also make the dough more spongelike or bready, which can seem doughy. Steaming should be fine, just make sure your simmering liquid is barely bubbling. Hope that helps!
Another thing I might add is to try a recipe that doesn’t have a lot of seasoning, and/or stick with mostly dry seasonings. Since gluten yield varies widely depending on the type of flour used, the amount of seasoning could be softening your end result.