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This vegan beaf made from washing flour is tender and juicy. After simmering, you can slice it cold for sandwiches, cut into shreds and fry them up for hot sandwiches, or coat with some salt, pepper, and a garlic-herb infused vegan butter and roast. The simmering liquid makes an amazing gravy or jus which can be thickened with a little bit of leftover starch water.
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. If making from scratch you can add all the ingredients to your slow cooker or pot and start getting it heated up.
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.
Once you've washed your dough ball (I wash mine to the cloudy/hazy water phase for this) let it rest in a colander to drain excess liquid and start to become stretchy. Add all of the seitan ingredients to a food processor or blender and blitz. If you don't have one you can add them all to a large bowl and whisk thoroughly to combine.
TIP: Save some of the starch water to thicken a gravy for this, or make this bacon!
Add the drained dough ball to the processor or blender and process until all the seasonings 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 a couple of knots for a shreddier texture and for a uniform cylinder, shape the dough into a log and wrap in cheesecloth/muslin and tie the ends tightly.
Simmer/poach in the broth and try to maintain a temperature as close to 190F/85C for about 2 hours. You'll know when it's done when it has become relatively solid/firm.
Allow the roast to come to room temperature and then refrigerate in the liquid for about 6-8 hours or overnight. From here you can pat dry and slice as-is for cold cuts, shave and sear/fry as cuts to make hot sandwiches, or allow to come to room temperature and bake as a roast.
If roasting, preheat your oven to 325F. Pat the seitan dry and season the outside how you like. I like to season with just salt and pepper, then baste with a little bit of reserved broth and some fresh herbs and garlic melted into vegan butter, though you can also use dry herb rub. Place the seitan on a little bit of the reserved broth to keep it moist and prevent sticking. Cover and bake at 325F for about 30 minutes to heat through, flipping and basting halfway through. Remove the cover and broil for a couple minutes on each side to get a deeper brown color.
The cooking broth also makes a fantastic gravy, which you can thicken with some of the reserved starch water. I like to make a quick pan gravy by slicing and sautéing some shallots in vegan butter, then add some strained broth, some fresh herbs such as thyme, salt, and pepper. Once the gravy is simmering then a little bit of the starchiest part of your water from washing and thicken to your desired consistency.
Servings 4
More Beaf & Holiday 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. If making from scratch you can add all the ingredients to your slow cooker or pot and start getting it heated up.
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.
Once you've washed your dough ball (I wash mine to the cloudy/hazy water phase for this) let it rest in a colander to drain excess liquid and start to become stretchy. Add all of the seitan ingredients to a food processor or blender and blitz. If you don't have one you can add them all to a large bowl and whisk thoroughly to combine.
TIP: Save some of the starch water to thicken a gravy for this, or make this bacon!
Add the drained dough ball to the processor or blender and process until all the seasonings 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 a couple of knots for a shreddier texture and for a uniform cylinder, shape the dough into a log and wrap in cheesecloth/muslin and tie the ends tightly.
Simmer/poach in the broth and try to maintain a temperature as close to 190F/85C for about 2 hours. You'll know when it's done when it has become relatively solid/firm.
Allow the roast to come to room temperature and then refrigerate in the liquid for about 6-8 hours or overnight. From here you can pat dry and slice as-is for cold cuts, shave and sear/fry as cuts to make hot sandwiches, or allow to come to room temperature and bake as a roast.
If roasting, preheat your oven to 325F. Pat the seitan dry and season the outside how you like. I like to season with just salt and pepper, then baste with a little bit of reserved broth and some fresh herbs and garlic melted into vegan butter, though you can also use dry herb rub. Place the seitan on a little bit of the reserved broth to keep it moist and prevent sticking. Cover and bake at 325F for about 30 minutes to heat through, flipping and basting halfway through. Remove the cover and broil for a couple minutes on each side to get a deeper brown color.
The cooking broth also makes a fantastic gravy, which you can thicken with some of the reserved starch water. I like to make a quick pan gravy by slicing and sautéing some shallots in vegan butter, then add some strained broth, some fresh herbs such as thyme, salt, and pepper. Once the gravy is simmering then a little bit of the starchiest part of your water from washing and thicken to your desired consistency.
Jen — Thank you for this recipe and this awesome website. I appreciate the effort it took to put this together!
-Tamlyn
Thank you so much for the kind words. I’m so happy to hear you find the site useful. 😊
Jen it’s sooooo good. Thank you. I prefer this washed flour seitan better than VWG. This has so much potential, roast beef, fried chicken, shredded chicken or beef, bacon, pastrami, the list goes on and on.
Thank you! And I know… I’m having a hard time going back to VWG lately. I still like the convenience of it but I’m not done exploring all the potential of washed flour yet!
Loving your recipes. I would love to say double quantities and bake two, and freeze one. For later busier times. Is this possible please.
Thank you! And yes, the seitan freezes really well, but instead of finishing by baking, I would freeze them after simmering (let it drain a bit and pat dry to remove excess liquid) and then finish by baking when you’re ready to serve.
This looks amazing! If I was to just knot the seitan together do I still need to wrap it in muslin? Or is that only if I want it in a log shape?
Thanks! You can leave it just knotted (I do this all the time), but it will not be the log shape that you see in the image, it will flatten out a bit. Make sure to watch your cooking temperature, especially if unwrapped. Hope you enjoy it!
Does this freeze well?
Yes! You can freeze it either completely submerged in the liquid or I usually shred it and dry it out a little bit before freezing if I’m going to fry it.
I have been waiting years to find a website like yours! Just made this recipe and very impressed with results. It’s been years since I first tried to make Setian from flour and I won’t wait very long to do it again after this. I sliced up half the roast and made a gravy with the broth and starch and served with potatoes. I managed to put it together in Mexico, with local ingredients and my Spanglish language skills. I had setian in a vegan Mexican restaurant and my results make the restaurant dish seem amateurish. The remaining roast will go into tacos and then I will do another recipe!
It’s comments like yours that really help me keep this site going. Thank you so much, it means so much to me. 😊 🙏
This site is amazing. I stopped eating seitan because I just cannot stand the chemical smell and taste of VWG – and that includes most of the commercial products. The one that is tolerable is also crazy expensive.
I have made seitan this way before, but you have taken washed flour to a whole new level. Thank you very much – I am sure it took an enormous investment in time and money to put this here for all of us. It is greatly appreciated!
Thank you so very much for taking the time to comment and I’m really happy to hear you appreciate the site. I was having a bit of a down day and it helps a lot to be reminded why I started doing this in the first place. 🙏 ☺️
I also love your videos. They are very high quality and I hope you will upload more. 🙂
Thank you so much and I hope to soon!!! I’m working on perfecting a couple more recipes and I plan to include videos when they’re ready.
I made this this weekend. The flavour was really good, but the seitan didn’t firm up at all during the simmering – to the point where it started to flatten out in the dish while it was baking for the final 30 minutes. It didn’t affect our enjoyment but when I make it again I would like it to be firmer. Do you have any suggestions on what to try differently? I’m wondering if I should’ve washed the flour for longer, or had the broth at a higher temperature. I used white bread flour (12.9% protein), kneaded the dough initially for about 8 minutes and let it sit in the water initially for about five hours.
Washing longer does usually help yield firmer/chewier results. For this I wash until the water is cloudy/hazy – definitely see-through but not clear. Not sure if you did this – but draining after washing is key, for at least 20 minutes. Then wring out the dough to remove excess moisture. (Very often I wash and then store it in the fridge after draining to cook the next day or later in the week. There is always excess water when I do this.)
Resting again after seasoning so the gluten is strong enough to knot once or twice is also important and will help it retain its shape. It’s hard to say for cooking temperature – all slow cookers are different. You may need to try a higher temp, but make sure it’s barely bubbling or you could get spongey results which will also make it much less firm. Cooking it longer at a lower temp is fine, too, even overnight. Another thing you can try is making a paste out of the seasoning before adding it, which may help it mix in better. You can also try cutting back on the seasonings a little and/or throw in another cup or so of flour at the beginning to help offset the amount.
Hope at least one of these suggestions help you achieve better results next time. Please let me know how it goes! 😊
Hi Jen, thanks for the comprehensive reply. I think it was probably a combination of needing to wash it for longer and draining it properly. Looking forward to trying it again.