How to extract pure protein from cheap flour.
No vote
Rinse those carbs down the drain.
Looking at the cost of protein hiding within many foods, I found, when I did the calculations, that Bread Flour has the most protein for the least price.
"Flour? Flour for protein? What?!? No, Flour is the devil. Dr. Gott tells me not to eat white flour, Dr. Atkins has it on the no-no list and I eat too much bread and pasta and get fat! Impossible!"
Oh, not so.
In a Five Pound Bag of "Gold Medal Better for Bread Flour", there is: 300 grams of protein!
But there's also 1650 grams of Carbohydrates. Ugh! What can you do with all those carbs?
Simple.
Rinse those carbs down the drain.
That's right - you're washing the starches right out of the wheat flour. I was amazed, awed, floored and stunned as I was doing it for the very first time tonight.
I realized - this is how cows get to be so big and beefy eating only grains: This magical stuff hidden in a common cheap bag of flour.
The term for it is "Seitan" and Buddhist monks have been making the stuff for thousands of years.
I'll tell you how I did it.
Equipment: Bread Machine (not required, but I can't knead dough but I do have an old bread machine. If you can knead dough, then do it that way)
Colander
Large Pot that colander sits in (for rinsing those unnecessary calories down the drain)
Ingredients:
4 Cups - PACKED - of Flour. I used Bread Flour, but all wheat flours have protein, whether all purpose, self-rising, whole wheat, bread flour, etc. (with whole wheat, you have the added step of picking out the bran from what I read).
2 cups of water.
(ratio is 2 parts packed flour, 1 part water, at least for bread flour. Experiment!)
Step 1) Add four cups of packed flour to bread machine.
Step 2) Add two cups of water to bread machine.
Step 3) Turn bread machine on to dough setting. As the dough ball forms, if it sticks to the side of the container, add little flicks of water to it (a couple of drops of the ends of your fingers that you dip in a bowl of water). If the dough ball looks wet, add little pinches of flour to it until it looks smooth, doesn't stick to the side of the bread machine pan and isn't slimy looking.
Step 4) When its done - and you don't have to have it do the whole cycle - just until it looks like a dry dough ball. (I did it the whole time) -- put the dough ball in the colander. Put the colander in the pot. Put the whole thing in the sink.
Step 5) Start rinsing out the calories and the carbohydrates.
How?
Fill the pot up with water. Tease and squish and stretch the dough ball until the water looks milky.
Then change the water (dump it out and refill).
Do it again.
And again.
You can also wash the dough ball under running water.
While you're washing the carbohydrates off of the protein (rubbery stuff), turn the whole thing inside out once in a whlie. Be as amazed at I was, as the ball gets smaller, and smaller and smaller and smaller.
I probably changed the water 9 or 10 times, which is no big deal.
Anytime you feel some "slimy" on the rubbery dough ball, you've encountered more starches. Rinse then off. Don't be scared of the ball. Turn it inside out, squeeze it, stretch it, fold it, run the tap water right into it. Get all those starches OUT of there.
How do you know when you're done?
You're done when you have a rubber ball thing with nothing slimy/"dough like" left on it.
THe water in your pot will be clear.
And your FOUR CUPS of PACKED FLOUR and two cups of water will now be almost a ONE CUP of almost PURE PROTEIN.
The Protein/Carb ratio in my bread flour confirms it: 15% protein, 77% carbohydrates.
1/6 of 6 cups = .9 cups, which is exactly what I ended up with. The stuff is so springy, I couldn't squish it down all the way to .9 cup. So it looks like just over a cup.
Step 6) I ended up using a can of chicken broth, a can of beef broth and an onion. Pressure cooked for 10 minutes but there are many other ways...
Step 6) You need a salty broth of some kind, either made of soy sauce and a few other things or a box of chicken broth, or whatever strong flavor you want to try.
There are tons of recipes online and I'm not going to duplicate them here.
Basically you:
a) simmer it for a 1/2 hr
b) slow cook it for hours
c) 10 minutes in a pressure cooker.
You see, since the raw seitan / wheat gluten / protein has absolutely NO FLAVOR - you need to infuse it with some kind of flavor.
After you do that, you can treat it like meat. Lasts for about a week in the fridge or you can freeze it.
The beef broth + chicken broth plus an onion that I tried tasted like: TURKEY. Go figure!
Kenneth Udut Naples, FLorida
"Flour? Flour for protein? What?!? No, Flour is the devil. Dr. Gott tells me not to eat white flour, Dr. Atkins has it on the no-no list and I eat too much bread and pasta and get fat! Impossible!"
Oh, not so.
In a Five Pound Bag of "Gold Medal Better for Bread Flour", there is: 300 grams of protein!
But there's also 1650 grams of Carbohydrates. Ugh! What can you do with all those carbs?
Simple.
Rinse those carbs down the drain.
That's right - you're washing the starches right out of the wheat flour. I was amazed, awed, floored and stunned as I was doing it for the very first time tonight.
I realized - this is how cows get to be so big and beefy eating only grains: This magical stuff hidden in a common cheap bag of flour.
The term for it is "Seitan" and Buddhist monks have been making the stuff for thousands of years.
I'll tell you how I did it.
Equipment: Bread Machine (not required, but I can't knead dough but I do have an old bread machine. If you can knead dough, then do it that way)
Colander
Large Pot that colander sits in (for rinsing those unnecessary calories down the drain)
Ingredients:
4 Cups - PACKED - of Flour. I used Bread Flour, but all wheat flours have protein, whether all purpose, self-rising, whole wheat, bread flour, etc. (with whole wheat, you have the added step of picking out the bran from what I read).
2 cups of water.
(ratio is 2 parts packed flour, 1 part water, at least for bread flour. Experiment!)
Step 1) Add four cups of packed flour to bread machine.
Step 2) Add two cups of water to bread machine.
Step 3) Turn bread machine on to dough setting. As the dough ball forms, if it sticks to the side of the container, add little flicks of water to it (a couple of drops of the ends of your fingers that you dip in a bowl of water). If the dough ball looks wet, add little pinches of flour to it until it looks smooth, doesn't stick to the side of the bread machine pan and isn't slimy looking.
Step 4) When its done - and you don't have to have it do the whole cycle - just until it looks like a dry dough ball. (I did it the whole time) -- put the dough ball in the colander. Put the colander in the pot. Put the whole thing in the sink.
Step 5) Start rinsing out the calories and the carbohydrates.
How?
Fill the pot up with water. Tease and squish and stretch the dough ball until the water looks milky.
Then change the water (dump it out and refill).
Do it again.
And again.
You can also wash the dough ball under running water.
While you're washing the carbohydrates off of the protein (rubbery stuff), turn the whole thing inside out once in a whlie. Be as amazed at I was, as the ball gets smaller, and smaller and smaller and smaller.
I probably changed the water 9 or 10 times, which is no big deal.
Anytime you feel some "slimy" on the rubbery dough ball, you've encountered more starches. Rinse then off. Don't be scared of the ball. Turn it inside out, squeeze it, stretch it, fold it, run the tap water right into it. Get all those starches OUT of there.
How do you know when you're done?
You're done when you have a rubber ball thing with nothing slimy/"dough like" left on it.
THe water in your pot will be clear.
And your FOUR CUPS of PACKED FLOUR and two cups of water will now be almost a ONE CUP of almost PURE PROTEIN.
The Protein/Carb ratio in my bread flour confirms it: 15% protein, 77% carbohydrates.
1/6 of 6 cups = .9 cups, which is exactly what I ended up with. The stuff is so springy, I couldn't squish it down all the way to .9 cup. So it looks like just over a cup.
Step 6) I ended up using a can of chicken broth, a can of beef broth and an onion. Pressure cooked for 10 minutes but there are many other ways...
Step 6) You need a salty broth of some kind, either made of soy sauce and a few other things or a box of chicken broth, or whatever strong flavor you want to try.
There are tons of recipes online and I'm not going to duplicate them here.
Basically you:
a) simmer it for a 1/2 hr
b) slow cook it for hours
c) 10 minutes in a pressure cooker.
You see, since the raw seitan / wheat gluten / protein has absolutely NO FLAVOR - you need to infuse it with some kind of flavor.
After you do that, you can treat it like meat. Lasts for about a week in the fridge or you can freeze it.
The beef broth + chicken broth plus an onion that I tried tasted like: TURKEY. Go figure!
Kenneth Udut Naples, FLorida
Comments
Udut, Kenneth on Dec. 9 2010 edit · delete I found these similar but alternative directions today, which I will try. I especially like that it will keep indefinately if I simmer it twice a week in its broth! Read on...
Seitan is cooked in two steps.
In the first step, the dough is put into a large pot with about 3 quarts of plain, boiling water.
Boil the seitan for about 30-45 minutes, or until it floats to the surface. Drain the seitan and cut it into usable pieces (steaks, cutlets, 1-inch chunks, or whatever) or leave whole.
Return the seitan to the cold tamari stock.
Bring the stock to a boil, lower the temperature, and simmer in the stock for 1 1/2 to 2 hours (45 minutes if the seitan is cut into small pieces).
This second step may also be done in a pressure cooker, in which case it would take between 30-45 minutes.
To store seitan, keep it refrigerated, immersed in the stock.
If it is brought to a boil in the tamari stock and simmered for 10 minutes twice a week, the seitan will keep indefinitely.
Otherwise, use it within 8 or 9 days.
Udut, Kenneth on Dec. 9 2010 edit · delete Now, my seitan (1st attempt) came out a little spongy, which apparently is very common.
I looked up how to make it stringy (like meat) and one clue that someone had luck with is putting it in a cloth bag, stuffed in tightly, so that it can't expand too much when its going from raw to cooked. Keeping it compressed makes it come out more dense than spongy.
Another trick I've heard that might work is simmering it for a long time in a slow cooker (like overnight).
Finally, a 3rd trick I've heard is the resting process. Let it rest for 20 minutes to allow the gluten to fully develop before simmering. All interesting advice!
Although I will first try the "two part" simmering process. 1) simmer it boiling water 'til it floats then 2) simmer for a few hours in the broth. The stuff is so cheap to make (and rinsing the starch off isn't as bad as ppl make it out to be)
Vijay on Dec. 4 2012 edit · delete While extracting glutain, I found that was loosing too much flour in water. Hence I found it useful to wrap the dough ball in cloth and then rinse it in water.
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