How can I make my seitan a bit firmer?

Question

I tried my hand at making homemade seitan the other night, and it was pretty good - my only complaint was that it wasn't as firm as I would have liked it to be.

These are the steps I followed (based on "Basic Seitan Recipie" instructions on the back of a vital wheat gluten box)

1. Mixed vital wheat gluten with water, kneaded for 5 minutes until it was elastic.
2. Formed into 2.5" log, let sit for 5 minutes.
3. Cut log into 0.5" pieces.
4. Heated vegetable broth over medium flame, added seitan pieces.
5. Brought broth to a boil.
6. Reduced flame, let seitan simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

So what could I do to improve this, and get firmer seitan pieces as a result? Less water in initial dough? Cut smaller pieces before boiling/simmering? Longer simmering time? Different type of vegetable broth?

Answer 1

I tried making seitan by boiling it once and didn't like the texture. The way I do it now is wrapping it in tin foil then steaming it (I recently got some cloth bags I'm going to try doing it in). I found my recipe here, and I generally follow a similar process for any seitan.

Answer 2

i've only made seitan myself a couple times, and it's been awhile, but isn't there a point where you drain it and/or squeeze out some moisture? if so, maybe an extended sit in some sort of press would help. the times i've made it, i put it in a smoker afterwards, so it was firm because of the low-heat semi-cooking, i guess.

Answer 3

I use microwave foil, roll it up, tie one end up with cooking cord and holding it on the open end I press down the dough like you would do in a sausage. Once pressed tie the upper end too.

I use to add an extra layer of foil so that no (or very little) water gets in.

Now you can cook it either 1 h in water only in a normal pot or 30 minutes in the pressure cooker.

The resulting hunch of seitan will be much more consistent than made in broth.

Mileage may vary, of course ;)