Seitan!

Having had nothing on the itinerary today, I decided to make myself up some more seitan as I had run out a while back after making a teryaki stir-fry. Seitan is by far my favorite meat substitute, kicking tofu, tempeh, or any mushroom's ass in my opinion. For anyone who does not know what "seitan" is, it's vital wheat gluten mixed with water and boiled (hence it commonly being known as "wheat meat") and it works as an excellent high-protein meat substitute. Now since most people don't know what "wheat gluten" is either, it is the protein within a whole wheat flour(the manual way of extracting gluten involves washing wheat flour repeatedly until all the starch is gone, leaving just the protein left). The wheat gluten has a very sticky consistency, much like a very wet bread dough(gluten is actually what holds bread together and helps with the rising process). Anyway, I'm digressing. The point is I made some seitan to freeze up for future use(it holds up very well if frozen and can last quite a long time). The recipe I use for seitan(strictly speaking, all that is necessary is water and wheat gluten) is as follows:

1 cup vital wheat gluten (I recommend finding it in bulk form, much cheaper than other ways)
~3/4 cups water
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp Garbanzo bean flour
2 Tbsp Tapioca Starch (find the stuff that has the fine, cornstarch-like consistency. The pearls would just be weird)
1 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast (I will explain what this is later)
6 cups of broth for cooking (start heating this right away if you want to save time)

To make the seitan itself, mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl well then add in the fluid ingredients and stir by hand. If you use a machine, I can only imagine bad things happening to all objects involved. After ensuring that all the dough is mixed in entirely(little pockets of the dry dough have a habit of forming due to the nature of the gluten), knead around 15 times and let it sit for five minutes. Knead again 5-10 times(the kneading activates more of the gluten, making it sticker and more dense). By this point it should look like this:
The next step is to tear this apart and form cutlets out of the raw dough. I usually have my cutlets be around 3x3 when stretched out(the cutlets will retract in size when you set them down, as you will see) and only around 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Don't worry, the seitan will expand dramatically while it cooks(don't underdo the fluid). Put the cutlets in the broth when it is simmering and lightly simmer it for around one hour. The seitan will have expanded a considerable amount and be fairly meaty when finished. Refrigerate or freeze as soon as cooled, but either way you should contain it somehow so it doesn't dry out. When being used in recipe, the seitan merely needs to be reheated(take out 1-2 hours before hand if frozen). Finished Product:
There is a different way of making seitan, easily found by googling the term "Seitan O' Greatness". That way involves making a loaf, wrapping it in foil, and baking it. It also unfortunately involves vegetarian Worcestershire sauce, which contains friggin' xanthan gum. It does look good otherwise though.

*Nutritional Yeast is a product made by Red Star, who also makes a corn-free activated yeast product. It is debatably a whole protein(I honestly don't know or care what non-animal products constitute as a "whole protein" anymore, it's all just so damn contradictory) and is fortified with B vitamins, including the quite important B-12 for vegans. It is commonly used in fake cheese dishes but also as a garnish upon many a different dish. Not a huge fan of the straight up taste though.