It's Not Too Late! Make Isa's Seitan Roast for Thanksgiving!

I know I had planned to make the lovely Tami's delicious Gobbler Roll for tomorrow, but then, last night, Isa released the recipe for an amazing vegan centerpiece loaf, the Seitan Roast Stuffed with Shiitakes and Leeks and I just couldn't help myself.  So, I just made it (please forgive me, Tami, I'll make it up to you!!).

I took pictures of the rolling process, which I learned from watching one of my all time favorite chefs, Jacques Pepin, make his beautiful Buche di Noel (yule log) with Julia Child in their series, Jacques and Julia, Cooking at Home.  I adore Jacques and Julia!  I highly recommend the series (it's not vegan, though, obviously!).

Without further ado, here is how I made Isa's lovely Stuffed Seitan Roast:

 Mix the wet and dry ingredients with a wooden spoon. 

 Now your dough is going! Knead it until it is nice and doughy.  

 OK, here is my first trick: Spread the seitan dough out ONTO your aluminum foil that is already set up.  Just push the dough out into a 12x10 rectangle with your hands right on the foil.  The dough is nice and moist and will not stick to the foil.  Then, load up your stuffing (I used a cornbread and vegan sausage stuffing!)

 Now, in the style of the Buche di Noel (a lovely, cream filled chocolate Christmas cake that Jacque Pepin makes) use the foil to tightly roll your seitan around the stuffing.  Pull the foil up around the dough (with two hands!) to get it rolling, then, tighten the foil over the dough by pushing your hands over the foil and down over the roll, like you are rolling sushi.  You can probably even just keep pulling the foil over the roll and it will go!

 Keep pushing the dough and rolling it forward with the foil! It's fun and easy!  Then, just push/stroke that seam together with your fingers. You don't need to take the roll off the foil at all, just smush it together.  The dough is very soft.

 I just pushed the ends in, like I was wrapping a present, to seal them.  I forgot to take a picture of the sealed ends! Sorry!

Roll your seitan loaf closer to the top of the foil, closer to the top than you see it here, and then roll the foil over the seitan loaf all the way down, then just seal the ends.

 Wha Lah!!

Bake as directed.  

Rejoicing in the glow of Seitan Roast success!

Cliffhanger! See the photos of the roast sliced and served...tomorrow!!

XOXO

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Thanksgiving Trial Run: Gobbler Loaf

As a possibility for Thanksgiving I made Tami's Gobbler Slices, twice!  They are really tasty and the loaf can be used as a "roast" just like turkey.  The first time I made them, I had to sub for a bunch of ingredients, the biggest sub being I used chickpea flour for about half of the wheat gluten since I only had about 3/4 of a cup in the house at the time.  Then I used extra soy flour to get the consistency of the dough right.  And I used cooked soy beans instead of white beans.  It was really my pantry's version of the recipe (what I had in the basement went into the "bird!").  I used some canned soy beans that I had down there (I still can't believe I didn't have any navy beans, so weird).  The texture was different than she intended, but I liked it a lot:

I served it like an open-face "turkey" sandwich with gravy, mushrooms and asparagus.

Then, I made it the right way after I had bought more gluten and the minute tapioca.  The texture was a bit "spongier" and moister (the chickpea flour one was drier, but not at all spongy).  Both versions were delicious, but I generally prefer less wheat gluten and more chickpea flour as a rule.  I think you can make it any way you want, it's a nice flexible recipe.

Blurry because I was too hungry to hold the camera still. 

After eating half my sandwich, I got a better picture.  Looks like the Day After Thanksgiving Sandwich!

One of the best things about this recipe is it is (basically) a steamed seitan recipe.  No baking, or worse, steaming and THEN baking involved.  Just steam it and you are done.  AWESOME.

Here's The Gobbler in the top of my steamer.  I adore this steamer.  (Bottom of steamer is not pictured, I was heating the water in it on the stove).

I love you, Gobbler Loaf!

What recipes are you guys testing for the holidays?