Step 1

*IMPORTANT - Before you make this recipe you MUST have previously frozen the tofu in its packets for at least 2 full days. It then needs to be defrosted before you proceed. This step cannot be skipped.

Step 2

Press the previously frozen and defrosted tofu for at least 15 minutes. Use a tofu press if you have one and if you don't, wrap the blocks of tofu in a clean dish towel, and place something heavy like a stack of heavy cookbooks, or a skillet with tin cans inside it on top of it.

Step 3

Preheat oven to 400 °F (200 °C).

Step 4

Break the pressed tofu up into chunks and put it in a food processor. Add everything else except the water and blend it up until it looks crumby.

Step 5

Check to see if it will squeeze together and stay together in your hand. It probably won't. If not, gradually add water, a few teaspoons at a time and pulse in between each addition. Lift the lid after adding each addition and carefully (avoiding the blade) squeeze a bit of the mixture together in your hand to see if it sticks together. If it's not quite there add another teaspoon or two, pulse a few times and check again. It will probably take about 3 to 4 tablespoons.

Step 6

Remove the blade, scraping it off with a spatula, then use the spatula to give the bottom of the food processor a bit of a scrape, particularly around the blade area, to get any bits of dried tapioca or psyllium husk that got missed, mixed in and absorbed.

Step 7

Get a long piece of foil (around 20 inches long) and brush or rub the dull side with a little oil.

Step 8

Tip the seitan dough out on a board and roughly shape it into a log with a diameter of about 4 inches. It doesn't need to be perfect. Move it onto the foil (long side of roast along the short side of foil, and roll it up loosely. Not too tightly as it will increase in size as it cooks and will burst out of the foil if too tight. Twist each end shut.

Step 9

Place the foil-wrapped seitan onto a small baking tray and place on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 35 minutes. Open the oven, turn the seitan over and bake for another 35 minutes. Remove from the oven. It will have expanded and if you poke the foil it will feel tight and hard but it will shrink and soften as it cools. Leave it unopened to rest on the tray for at least an hour, but the texture is better if you let it cool completely and refrigerate it. I tend to make it at least the day before I want to use it.