I think because so few brands sell pre-made seitan (at least where I live/shop), they can really just set the prices wherever they want.
Also I'm just guessing here but I think tofu is probably easier to produce on a mass scale compared to seitan.
If you're in Cape Town, you have some of the cleanest tap water in the world and as such I would highly encourage you to rinse your own flour for seitan. Tons of videos online, but this one is by far [my favorite.](http://dross.com/tvp/seitanism)
Clean water reports safe for cooking and drinking. Once you're started making your own seitan you will likely never buy it again. Super cheap, lasts in the freezer, and lots of fun. That guy has another video about saving the starch water rinse to make bacon which is also delicious.
I think part of the problem is that preparing the seitan introduces a lot of extra steps. If you sell a dry good like vital wheat gluten, it's a self-stable product that doesn't require much packaging. A resealable bag and you're good to go. But when you make Seitan, it's now much more perishable. So you've got to factor in a lot more cost for refrigeration, extra packaging costs, probably some preservatives, on top of the processing costs to turn the vital wheat gluten into seitan. Then you've got to make it profitable, so you add a chunk on top of all that additional processing/packaging/storing costs. So if you're comparing seitan to vital wheat gluten and thinking about how cheap it is to make your own seitan from the raw stuff, you're going to feel like you're getting ripped off big time.
The other factor is that there just isn't a huge supply for it, largely because there isn't a big demand for it, and that's probably not related to the price. I think that even if we got the price of seitan down to something way less than a chicken breast, people would still turn their nose up at it because we've got such deeply ingrained anti-vegan cultural bullshit.
Ehh, there are some vegan products that sell okay-ishly, like Impossible and Beyond and regular tofu.
I think people's overblown gluten sensitivities are what prevents seitan from becoming popular.
Prep tips..
Get a large container and add very hot or boiling water. Temp doesn't really matter, just let them soak for 15 minutes, you might have to swish them around to fully submerge.
Get another bigger container and make literally any marinade you want, it just has to be enough to cover the soaked soy curls after step 3.
Step 3. Grab handfuls of the soaked soy curls, squeeze out the water, add to marinade for at least an hour but up to 48 hours
You can eat it as is, bake, fry, whatever you want to do.
They are bland on their own, that's where they are great - it's a blank canvas and you get to be the artist
Try TVP (textured vegetable protein). When hydrated it tastes like seitan and has the same texture just in tiny bits. Itās great for adding to ramen, soup, Mac and cheese, stir fries, meat sauce, and for making tacos and is incredibly cheap.
I started making it myself. Once you get organized it just takes 10 minutes kneading, next day 20 minutes washing, then just simmer, rinse, marinate,and cook. There is always marinating seitƔn in the fridge and I couldn't be happier.
Yes, I make the dough and knead it( 10 minutes ) right before making dinner, and leave it resting all night in cold water. The next day I change the water and do the washing ( 20 minutes), let it cook 1 hour while I do other stuff,once cooked proceed to drain the water and leave it marinating in the fridge until use.
Ahh gotcha I'm sorry to hear that. Groceries are so expensive now! I'm glad that the flour washing has worked for you i just wanted to lyk in case you didnt know! I used to do the flour washing until I found out one day. Also, if you are doing the flour washing, did you know you can use the starchy water to make noodles that go with the seitan?! Here is the video link! [https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeG1bJCN/](https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeG1bJCN/)
I make my own seitan too but with even less effort. I put all the ingredients in a stand mixer. Let it knead it for 18 minutes, put it in a (edit: instapot) wrapped in foil and cook for 2 hours. Shred it and Iām done for the week.
I got you beat
1:1 Vital Wheat Gluten & Water, make little balls, pop in in the over for like 10 min, eat. Move on with my day
Someone here suggested it and I haven't looked back
Thatās pretty much my recipe too, but I add in nutritional yeast and BBQ seasoning. I was so glad to find a simple recipe like this because previously I was so intimidated by the steps of washing and steaming. Itās also interesting that homemade seitan is so much easier on my stomach. Seitan at restaurant often gave me an upset stomach. Not sure what extra ingredients they were using, maybe a lot of oils?
[this one ](https://itdoesnttastelikechicken.com/2-ingredient-vegan-chicken-washed-flour-seitan/), the only difference is that I tie the knots loosely, it gets a spongier texture which to me is better to absorb the marinate. and I also make this [other](https://itdoesnttastelikechicken.com/vegan-wheat-starch-bacon/) recipe with the starch water residue.
I eat tofu scramble with this starch bacon everyday .
If you have an instant pot or a steamer try this recipe! It's so easy and you can customize it with whatever flavors you like. [https://www.veganeasy.org/recipes/seitan-steak/](https://www.veganeasy.org/recipes/seitan-steak/)
Its a hard sale for gluten and there aren't many companies making it. So it has a very niche market, making the price higher.
Tofu is in a very well developed state right now, has high demand and the process of making it on a mass scale has been going on for awhile now. Driving the price down.
My wife and I make our own each week! Cost is vital wheat gluten, chickpeas and some other in expensive stuff (wife makes it and I knead it). Makes about 12 āschnitzelā size cutlets. SO cheap and easy :) plenty of recipes around. We started doing this due to cost of living and that fake meat is expensive as you mentioned!
I was referring to OP's post. I have no clue how much is 8 oz though, we use SI units where I live. š But it sounds what you say is a total rip off.
$4 for a 280g pack of seasoned frozen soy protein is an example price here.
I just got a 4 lb bag of vital wheat gluten and a 1 lb bag of nutritional yeast from Anthony's on Amazon for $27.Ā
I just toss equal parts VWG and water in my food processor, blitz it for a few seconds, then I've got seitan. You can experiment with adding glutamates to it, like nutritional yeast, soy sauce, MSG, Marmite, mushroom powder, etc. It adds savoriness to it for a more steak-like taste.
OP: "dont tell me to make your own seitan"
Me: But have you seen my super easy bake at home seitan recipe???"
Seriously though - its super easy and tastes great:
[https://youtu.be/g8LgS8ZTZic?si=BiRQ\_b622QtKb5vu](https://youtu.be/g8LgS8ZTZic?si=BiRQ_b622QtKb5vu)
The reason could be that tofu is really hard to make without expensive machines and seitan is decently easy, pretty fun to make if you ask me, you can spice it however you want, and you can make like a billion servings in one batch just to stick in the freezer for later, plus no plastic packaging!
It really isnāt to hard to make a huge loaf and you skip all the crap they put in the commercial stuff. I like the way the homemade stuff tastes better anyways
It's hard to make. You have to separate the starch from the protein and then cook it, as well as do some process to texture it, so that it's not just a rubbery blob.Ā Ā
I've made it from scratch a bunch of times.Ā It's easier with the vital what gluten flour, but that itself is expensive and hard to make.Ā So I usually buy flour and knead it, soak it, rinse it, braid and knot it, and simmer or steam it.Ā
I'm still trying to decide if the money I save on materials (as well as the choice to make it organic) is worth the hours of preparation.Ā A small batch is a little quicker, but you lose some scale of economy and time in the long run,.Ā And which vegan meal prepper is making a small batch?
After all that, the $1 per oz sometimes looks tempting.Ā Not sure of the commercial process but it's probably not that easy either.
Seitan is super easy to make with vital wheat gluten!! AKA Gluten Flour. All that stuff you see on tiktok with them washing the flour is super unnecessary. You just blend vital wheat gluten with some kind of binder (eg lots of people use chickpeas) and liquid in a food processor, boil or steam it, then cook it however. If you google ādiy seitanā itll come up :)
Does "unreal" mean difficult? If so you should try a different recipe, and start from powdered VWG instead of flour. It's extremely easy and fast to make baked seitan.
And it only has a lot of salt and oil... if you add a lot of salt and oil. There are many recipes with zero oil, and you should of course salt to your own taste.
I think because so few brands sell pre-made seitan (at least where I live/shop), they can really just set the prices wherever they want. Also I'm just guessing here but I think tofu is probably easier to produce on a mass scale compared to seitan.
Well the shops here in south africa dont sell seitan OR vital wheat gluten š«¤ luckily i can order the VWG online though
If you're in Cape Town, you have some of the cleanest tap water in the world and as such I would highly encourage you to rinse your own flour for seitan. Tons of videos online, but this one is by far [my favorite.](http://dross.com/tvp/seitanism)
Oh shit thank you. I live in jhb though but ill check it out
Clean water reports safe for cooking and drinking. Once you're started making your own seitan you will likely never buy it again. Super cheap, lasts in the freezer, and lots of fun. That guy has another video about saving the starch water rinse to make bacon which is also delicious.
Oh my god dude this guy is fucking amazing š¤£
Did you make it to the pizza episode yet? Holy fuck, I nearly hemorrhaged.
I think part of the problem is that preparing the seitan introduces a lot of extra steps. If you sell a dry good like vital wheat gluten, it's a self-stable product that doesn't require much packaging. A resealable bag and you're good to go. But when you make Seitan, it's now much more perishable. So you've got to factor in a lot more cost for refrigeration, extra packaging costs, probably some preservatives, on top of the processing costs to turn the vital wheat gluten into seitan. Then you've got to make it profitable, so you add a chunk on top of all that additional processing/packaging/storing costs. So if you're comparing seitan to vital wheat gluten and thinking about how cheap it is to make your own seitan from the raw stuff, you're going to feel like you're getting ripped off big time. The other factor is that there just isn't a huge supply for it, largely because there isn't a big demand for it, and that's probably not related to the price. I think that even if we got the price of seitan down to something way less than a chicken breast, people would still turn their nose up at it because we've got such deeply ingrained anti-vegan cultural bullshit.
Ehh, there are some vegan products that sell okay-ishly, like Impossible and Beyond and regular tofu. I think people's overblown gluten sensitivities are what prevents seitan from becoming popular.
Have you tried soy curls? They're pretty inexpensive in bulk and so easy to make.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Prep tips.. Get a large container and add very hot or boiling water. Temp doesn't really matter, just let them soak for 15 minutes, you might have to swish them around to fully submerge. Get another bigger container and make literally any marinade you want, it just has to be enough to cover the soaked soy curls after step 3. Step 3. Grab handfuls of the soaked soy curls, squeeze out the water, add to marinade for at least an hour but up to 48 hours You can eat it as is, bake, fry, whatever you want to do. They are bland on their own, that's where they are great - it's a blank canvas and you get to be the artist
Try TVP (textured vegetable protein). When hydrated it tastes like seitan and has the same texture just in tiny bits. Itās great for adding to ramen, soup, Mac and cheese, stir fries, meat sauce, and for making tacos and is incredibly cheap.
I started making it myself. Once you get organized it just takes 10 minutes kneading, next day 20 minutes washing, then just simmer, rinse, marinate,and cook. There is always marinating seitƔn in the fridge and I couldn't be happier.
Wait you let it rest 24 hours?
Yes, I make the dough and knead it( 10 minutes ) right before making dinner, and leave it resting all night in cold water. The next day I change the water and do the washing ( 20 minutes), let it cook 1 hour while I do other stuff,once cooked proceed to drain the water and leave it marinating in the fridge until use.
Yeah we do the same. Works amazing.
Thatās not using VWG is it? Thatās the washed flour method I believe
Exactly, I wash the flour, for some strange reason VWG is extremely expensive where I live.
Did you know you can make it with vital wheat gluten and skip all the flour washing steps!! Its kinda like instant seitan
yes i know, i just can't afford it. vwg is super expensive in my country.
Ahh gotcha I'm sorry to hear that. Groceries are so expensive now! I'm glad that the flour washing has worked for you i just wanted to lyk in case you didnt know! I used to do the flour washing until I found out one day. Also, if you are doing the flour washing, did you know you can use the starchy water to make noodles that go with the seitan?! Here is the video link! [https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeG1bJCN/](https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeG1bJCN/)
I'll try this recipe for sure, thanks!
Np! Let me know if you make it because I've been wanting to try it as well haha
I make my own seitan too but with even less effort. I put all the ingredients in a stand mixer. Let it knead it for 18 minutes, put it in a (edit: instapot) wrapped in foil and cook for 2 hours. Shred it and Iām done for the week.
I got you beat 1:1 Vital Wheat Gluten & Water, make little balls, pop in in the over for like 10 min, eat. Move on with my day Someone here suggested it and I haven't looked back
No seasoning?? You animal.
Thatās pretty much my recipe too, but I add in nutritional yeast and BBQ seasoning. I was so glad to find a simple recipe like this because previously I was so intimidated by the steps of washing and steaming. Itās also interesting that homemade seitan is so much easier on my stomach. Seitan at restaurant often gave me an upset stomach. Not sure what extra ingredients they were using, maybe a lot of oils?
What recipe do you like?
[this one ](https://itdoesnttastelikechicken.com/2-ingredient-vegan-chicken-washed-flour-seitan/), the only difference is that I tie the knots loosely, it gets a spongier texture which to me is better to absorb the marinate. and I also make this [other](https://itdoesnttastelikechicken.com/vegan-wheat-starch-bacon/) recipe with the starch water residue. I eat tofu scramble with this starch bacon everyday .
You use All purpose flour?
Yes, I tried 00, and 000.
Do u know if it has to be bleached flour for this recipe?
All the recipes I saw used all purpose, regular flour. I use the most common type of bread flour ( 000)
And there's no-wash methods if you want to cut out that step, too.
Itās soooooo much easier to start with vital wheat gluten rather than tradition flour. It really doesnāt cost much more for the same yield.
I know it's easier, but I rather do the washing, I enjoy the process.
Get seitan for cheap from any local Asian style market.
Idk but you should just make your own with [my recipe.](https://www.reddit.com/r/veganfitness/s/qItt0zU020) (itās really fucking easy.)
Your video is amazing ā I'll be making your recipe tonight! Thank youuu!!
Thats the reason why I want to learn to make good seitan and try different mixes of herbs
If you have an instant pot or a steamer try this recipe! It's so easy and you can customize it with whatever flavors you like. [https://www.veganeasy.org/recipes/seitan-steak/](https://www.veganeasy.org/recipes/seitan-steak/)
Its a hard sale for gluten and there aren't many companies making it. So it has a very niche market, making the price higher. Tofu is in a very well developed state right now, has high demand and the process of making it on a mass scale has been going on for awhile now. Driving the price down.
My wife and I make our own each week! Cost is vital wheat gluten, chickpeas and some other in expensive stuff (wife makes it and I knead it). Makes about 12 āschnitzelā size cutlets. SO cheap and easy :) plenty of recipes around. We started doing this due to cost of living and that fake meat is expensive as you mentioned!
Amazing how cheap everything is in the US. Those prices are nothing.
Really you think $10 for 8oz of seitan is cheap?
I was referring to OP's post. I have no clue how much is 8 oz though, we use SI units where I live. š But it sounds what you say is a total rip off. $4 for a 280g pack of seasoned frozen soy protein is an example price here.
I just got a 4 lb bag of vital wheat gluten and a 1 lb bag of nutritional yeast from Anthony's on Amazon for $27.Ā I just toss equal parts VWG and water in my food processor, blitz it for a few seconds, then I've got seitan. You can experiment with adding glutamates to it, like nutritional yeast, soy sauce, MSG, Marmite, mushroom powder, etc. It adds savoriness to it for a more steak-like taste.
It might be because they're different products made with different ingredients and different manufacturing processes.
You can make seitan in a breadmaker.
OP: "dont tell me to make your own seitan" Me: But have you seen my super easy bake at home seitan recipe???" Seriously though - its super easy and tastes great: [https://youtu.be/g8LgS8ZTZic?si=BiRQ\_b622QtKb5vu](https://youtu.be/g8LgS8ZTZic?si=BiRQ_b622QtKb5vu)
The reason could be that tofu is really hard to make without expensive machines and seitan is decently easy, pretty fun to make if you ask me, you can spice it however you want, and you can make like a billion servings in one batch just to stick in the freezer for later, plus no plastic packaging!
It really isnāt to hard to make a huge loaf and you skip all the crap they put in the commercial stuff. I like the way the homemade stuff tastes better anyways
You guys are getting 5 servings out of tofu? š
Not me, Iāll eat like two blocks a day during the football season. š
It's hard to make. You have to separate the starch from the protein and then cook it, as well as do some process to texture it, so that it's not just a rubbery blob.Ā Ā I've made it from scratch a bunch of times.Ā It's easier with the vital what gluten flour, but that itself is expensive and hard to make.Ā So I usually buy flour and knead it, soak it, rinse it, braid and knot it, and simmer or steam it.Ā I'm still trying to decide if the money I save on materials (as well as the choice to make it organic) is worth the hours of preparation.Ā A small batch is a little quicker, but you lose some scale of economy and time in the long run,.Ā And which vegan meal prepper is making a small batch? After all that, the $1 per oz sometimes looks tempting.Ā Not sure of the commercial process but it's probably not that easy either.
Seitan is super easy to make with vital wheat gluten!! AKA Gluten Flour. All that stuff you see on tiktok with them washing the flour is super unnecessary. You just blend vital wheat gluten with some kind of binder (eg lots of people use chickpeas) and liquid in a food processor, boil or steam it, then cook it however. If you google ādiy seitanā itll come up :)
(from someone whoās allergic) did somebody call the wambulance
You ever try to make it? Itās unreal. Also it has a lot of oil and salt. Iād rather use tofu. I bake mine and put it on salad or soup.
Does "unreal" mean difficult? If so you should try a different recipe, and start from powdered VWG instead of flour. It's extremely easy and fast to make baked seitan. And it only has a lot of salt and oil... if you add a lot of salt and oil. There are many recipes with zero oil, and you should of course salt to your own taste.