Steve Shakeshaft

It’s been almost 6 months since my last blog post. I’ve really struggled with motivation to write these more formal posts. It started to feel like a chore when it was always supposed to be fun. I’ll still be posting on my socials, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, as I still really enjoy the interaction it gives me with you.

The last of the ingredients provided to me by the lovely folks at buywholefoodsonline.co.uk was Vital Wheat Gluten, which has many uses from bread and cakes to, one of the more popular applications of late, Seitan, a meat replacement product. I had heard about the meat like qualities you could get by combining Vital Wheat Gluten with lentils, spices and other flavourings. Start by adding your Vital Wheat Gluten, lentils (I used precooked tinned green lentils), water, nutritional yeast, tomato purée, soy sauce (I used dark because it is more flavourful), garlic, chilli powder and black pepper to a food processor. The Vital Wheat Gluten had formed strands like you get in meat.

Mix this until all the dry ingredients are combined, adding a little extra water or flour as you see necessary until you have a soft but not sticky dough. Spread your cinnamon/flour/sugar mixture across the dough but leave about 1cm at the end. When the dough has doubled, brush the top with milk and pop it into the oven at 180 Celsius for around 40 minutes. The bread was soft and light, lightly spiced with cinnamon, slightly sweet and the raisins really added a nice texture to the filling.

The list they offered was extensive but I chose a few choice pieces; organic barley flour, beetroot powder, Ceylon cinnamon powder and organic gluten (vital wheat). I substituted out 50g of the strong white flour for beetroot powder, and 100g organic barley flour. It could also have been the barley flour causing it as I’m told it is not a “strong flour The barley flour is a great substitute for plain flour.