Main ingredient: Unbleached flour
You will need a larger bowl than you think you will, but, remember that it will need to fit in the fridge for a few hours, so I find that a large stock pot is often better than a bowl. Empty the flour into the bowl/pot.
Slowly mix in enough water to form a soft dough, similar to bread dough. [You always want to wash your hands before handling food, but, when making gluten, you especially want to make sure they are clean, and that you also rinse off all traces of soap].
Using your hands, knead the dough, trying to mix in all traces of flour, until smooth. Use a spatula to scrape any dough down from the sides of the pot.
Fill pan with enough water to completely cover the dough,
Put water covered dough in fridge overnight.
Sit pot in the sink and pour off most of the water. Start filling with new water and gently kneading dough. What you are doing is gently washing away the starch, which is white, and you will be left with protein. This is why at first, your water will look almost as white as milk, and your dough will be very soft.
At this point the dough will be so soft that you will have a hard time picking it up.
Keep the water gently running into the pot, continuing to knead and rub the dough in your hands. Knead out any small hard pockets of undissolved flour. Periodically drain out the water and refill. Be careful not to let the soft pieces of dough drain out with the water. The dough will start getting firmer, and easier to hold in your hands.
As the dough gets firmer, start kneading all the small parts together, forming one ball of dough.
You are done when the water is almost, but not quite, clear. If you washed it completely clear, your gluten would be a bit tough. After you've made a few batches of gluten, you'll get used to how soft/tough you prefer the final product.
Take the ball of gluten out of the water, and set on plate. At this point you will look at the small ball of dough and wonder why you just exerted all that effort for such a small return. Don't worry, it won't stay this small.
Take a sharp paring knife and cut the dough into small pieces the size of a sausage patty, and flatten with your hand. Keep them slightly separated so they don't stick together.
Grab another large stock pot, or wash out the one you used for the dough. You are now going to simmer the pieces of dough in a broth, which will flavor it. Gluten takes on the flavors it is cooked in, making it very versatile. I used my favorite Asian broth, made of water, cooking oil, soy sauce, onion, celery, garlic, and brown sugar (no ginger, I got ahead of myself in the picture, I'll need it if I make teriyaki.) I also frequently make a chicken like broth, use whatever flavors you prefer.
Drop the pieces of dough into the boiling broth, then stir occasionally as you cook over medium heat for an hour. At first you will barely see the dough in the broth.
Only 8 minutes or so into cooking and you can already see the gluten pieces puffing up as they cook. Keep stirring gently every now and then. Toward the end of the cooking time start making sure that the liquid is not cooking dry.
The pieces will have absorbed most of the stock and are now firm enough to slice. The soy sauce in the Asian stock makes the finished gluten fairly dark, it will be lighter if you use a chicken flavored or vegetable stock.
You now have a batch of finished gluten. It can be added as is to things like vegetables and rice, sliced and sauteed, breaded and fried, ground into vegeburger, etc. It also freezes well. I may slice this batch and make it into teriyaki.
Here's a link if you want more gluten recipes or the specifics of the Asian broth.
