Serendipity Ranch Kitchen Korner |
Gluten* From the Kitchen of Serendipity Ranch |
Be prepared! I do not do well with recipes. My family always cringes when
someone asks me for a recipe! I dump! Anyway, here is the best I can
tell you, although I may have to also describe it in person!
I have a Kitchen Aid mixer, which is so much better than by hand. One trick I learned actually
came from a baker and had to do with bread, but the concept is what I
use for gluten -- the more you beat the flour, the more the gluten will
work. If you have a mixer like a Kitchen Aid, you can "beat it to
death," and it will come out even better, but I made it for years
by hand, so don't worry over that. If you can pound it with something
for a minute or two, it really toughens it up more. Good chore for your
kids when you want to wear them out and not have them punching each
other! ! !
Anyway, you must be sure to get vital wheat gluten flour. You
will not be happy with anything else. Furthermore, anything else really
needs to be washed, and I hate watching all of that money go down my
drain!
I take 3 cups of cold water - do not use lukewarm water
1 cup of whole wheat flour
(can add more if you decide later you like it more tender, but don't add
more than two cups)
1/2 cup of yeast flakes 1 Tablespoon of seasoning (if desired!) I have just started trying this and am still in the experimental stage. I have tried McKay's Beef Seasoning and it comes out tasting like Linketts! I started with cayenne pepper because Mommie said she would like it hotter than what I was getting it!
Vital wheat gluten flour! I have no idea how much. I would guess at
least two or three cups. I keep adding it until it is no longer really
sticky. In the mixer, until it doesn't stick to the side or the dough
hook. If I do it by hand, I keep adding it with one hand and mixing it
with the other hand until it doesn't stick to my hand that is mixing.
If I am using my mixer, I let the mixer pound the ball of dough when it
just starts forming into a ball that way it does not overheat my mixer.
(I burned out a mixer by waiting until it was not sticky, so have tried
it earlier in the process and seems to do well.) If I do it by hand I
wait until I have it totally mixed up, then I just use it like a
punching bag and punch it as hard as I can over and over, rolling it
around and punching it -- good cure for frustration! In the mixer I will
let it pound for about five minutes; by hand, I quit whenever I get my
frustrations out! No, seriously, I stop when I get tired of pounding, which is
generally under five minutes.
Once completed I cover it with water and let it stand at least 15
minutes. While it is doing that I get one to one and a half gallons of
water in a stock pot. In that water I dump soy sauce or Bragg or McKay's
Beef Seasoning -- probably close to a cup of soy sauce or Bragg or half
cup of Beef Seasoning. I also put in about 1/4 cup of garlic powder.
Then I take a taste! You want it really on the salty side. Depending on
my budget, I will either add more of which ever of the first ingredients
I used, or I will add salt. Salt is cheaper, so that generally fits my
budget. The main thing, you do want it to be a really salty tasting
broth, more than you would normally drink as a broth, but not
quite uncomfortably salty.
Once the broth is to a boil and the gluten has sat at least 15 minutes
to cure, then I cut the gluten with a paring knife and drop into the
broth -- be careful not to splash and burn yourself! If you are not
rushed, cut the pieces about bite size or a tad smaller; if you are
rushed, just cut them up! They do double in size while they cook in the
broth, but you can cut them later when you use them, if you have to.
Size of pot? Remember, they do double in size while they cook!
Boil for two hours! I don't keep the broth, unless I know that I am
cooking more gluten within a few days. It retains some of the
gluten flavor, which I really don't care for in soups, etc. I generally
drain the gluten chunks and freeze them in quart bags, what we do not use
immediately. They do great frozen! You can grind them up like I did
for burger crumble, or you can fry them with a little flour and
seasoning sprinkled on them.
My mom loved them with cayenne pepper sprinkled heavily on them when I fried them -- Buffalo Wings! In fact, the last time I saw her before she died, I had taken her some to the hospital and she ate all of them! I am learning that the sky is the limit with what you can do!
Something I have done a few times, but have not gotten it perfected
enough for everyone to like it as well -- Once your ball of gluten has
cured for at least 15 minutes, put it in a similar broth as above in a roasting
dish without cutting into chunks and let it bake in the oven at a low
heat overnite. Bake it at 250. I put it in a
roasting dish and almost covered with the broth. You can then slab it
off and barbecue it like steak, which we called hippo steaks! We liked
it, but we all like the chunks better!
Good luck! Hope you can figure this out.
|
BREADS | BREAKFASTS | DESSERTS |
DRINKS | ENTREES | FRUITS |
KITCHEN KORNER HOME | MISCELLANEOUS | SALADS |
SOUPS | SPREADS & DRESSINGS | VEGETABLES |
An Asterisk * by a Recipe Means it is Vegan | ||
Click on picture to E-mail your recipes. |
Copyright 2003, 2004, 2005 |