If you have TikTok, you’ve probably seen a few videos about seitan. Seitan has been all over TikTok recently with videos of seitan being made out of wheat and flour going viral. Seitan is essentially the gluten protein found in bread. It’s an extremely popular vegan protein source that also has a meaty texture often not found in other vegan protein sources such as tofu or tempeh. Its meaty texture is what makes seitan popular among vegans.
Seitan can be found in most grocery stores and can be made at home. There are a few different ways to make seitan. It can be made out of normal flour and water. Choosing a flour with a higher protein content, such as bread flour, would be better than choosing a flour with lower protein content. Often, the protein content can be found in the bag of flour itself. Seitan can also be made with vital wheat gluten. Vital wheat gluten has a much higher protein content than normal flour, so it requires less time and effort to make. People have many different ways of making seitan with different flour to water ratios, but the flour to water ratio is usually 2:1 or 3:1 depending on the recipe.
Making seitan out of flour can produce a lot of waste in terms of the starch that’s being washed out, but that starchy water can be used for other things. To use this starch water, you must collect the water and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours until the water separates from the starch. This leftover starch can then be used to make noodles or vegan bacon. Seitan can also be seasoned with many spices, which is what really gives it the meaty taste. It can also be prepared in many different ways such as boiling, frying, and steaming.
There is a large misconception that seitan is just “fried bread.” When the dough is washed and the starch is washed out, you are left with just the gluten protein found in bread. Seitan is very healthy as it is high in protein and selenium. Seitan also doesn’t contain a lot of fat or carbs since most of the starch is washed out during the process of making it. However, seitan is not a complete protein because it does not have the 9 essential amino acids, but this problem can be easily fixed by eating seitan with other protein sources such as beans. Overall seitan is a very good replacement for meat that is high in protein and very healthy!
- Saloni Jain
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