Seitan from flour
Deborah

06/06/04 		Your site has been on my favorites list for over a year simply because of the grape leaf section. Today is the first day I have explored the rest of it. WHAT A FIND! I have made seitan from the Farm cookbook for around 25 years. Just found your 'unchuck roast' and others and would like to know your thoughts on starting with the raw (wet) gluten and then adding ingredients to it. Have never worked with vital wheat gluten, but have noticed that it is quite expensive.
ellen

06/08/04 		Hi, Deborah,
First of all, send us some tested recipes! See Debbie's Indonesian Satay Seitan for another reader's gluten success.
The biggest challenge with fresh from flour gluten will be working in the other dry ingredients. Also, I would let it rest overnight before cooking to allow the moisture in the gluten to hydrate the other dry ingredients.
Vital wheat gluten in MUCH cheaper in bulk bins, it is under $2 a pound at our Sun Hrvast/ Wild Oats, different at other bulk departments (Whole Foods), but still about 1/2 the box price. And makes a lot- about 2+ cups to make 4+ pounds of unchuck. So it is not as expensive as it seems, and you might try it for some of the specialty recipes.