Smoked Seitan Bacon

seitan bacon in a cast iron pan about to be flipped with a wooden spatula

How to make cured and smoked bacon from bread flour. This high protein vegetarian bacon is perfectly chewy, crispy, with lovely salty, smokey flavors.

Print Recipe

CourseVegan Staples

CuisineAmerican

Prep Time6

Cook Time1

Equipment

Ingredients

Bacon Broth

1 Large Onion
4 Cloves Garlic
¼ Cup Coconut Oil
1 Cup Dried Shiitake Mushrooms
⅓ Cup Brown Sugar Coconut sugar, or Jaggery works here too
2 tbs Smoked Dulse
8 Cups Aquafaba From any bean or water*
1 tbs Vegetarian Ham Seasoning
2 tbs Mushroom Seasoning

Seitan Bacon

Seitan Bacon Binder

Cure

¼ Cup Salt
¼ Cup Brown Sugar Can use maple sugar, coconut sugar, palm sugar, jaggery, or sweetener of choice
3 tbs Ground Black Pepper
1 tsp Curing Salt Optional, ground and dried Koji rice also works here

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Forming the Dough

In one large bowl, combine 4lbs of bread flour to ¼ Cup of Red Rice Yeast Powder. Knead in 6 cups of water to form a dough
In another smaller bowl add 1lbs of bread flour to a bowl with about 1 cup of water, knead into a dough
Stretch and fold the dough every 30-45 minutes for about 4 hours (this helps build up the gluten for a higher yield and easier time washing out the starch, you can skip this step if you are short on time. You can do this as long or as short as you would like, do try to knead the dough in some degree to help build up the gluten)
In a blender add ¼ cup salt to 7 cups of water, blend until dissolved.
Pour the water over the dough balls and place them in a cool place overnight. Place a plate over the dough to prevent them from floating.
(You can leave them out at room temperature overnight, but you will have the best results if you refrigerate as cold helps strengthen the gluten and prevents possible fermentation)

Washing the Flour

Start with the larger pink dough
Gently knead the dough in the salted water until the water is thick and cloudy. Pour away the water and refill your bowl with more fresh water. Continue to gently knead the dough until the water is thick and cloudy again.
At this point you can pour away the cloudy water into another large bowl to collect the 'starch water' or you can pour it down the drain.
Continue to knead the dough under the water until no more starch leaves the dough. The dough should be pink and webby looking at this point.
With the second smaller batch of dough knead it in the salted water until it is thick and cloudy like before.
Continue to gently knead the dough until the water is thick and cloudy again.
At this point you can pour away the cloudy water into another large bowl to collect the 'starch water' or you can pour it down the drain.
When the dough starts to get webby and is 'mostly washed' (starch is still coming out of it, but the texture is mainly webby and has most of the starch removed) set aside.

Vegan Bacon Broth

Chop 1 large onion, crush and mince roughly 4 cloves of garlic
Either heat up a large stock pot (if using the stove) or set your Instant Pot to Sautee (recommended)
Add about ¼ cup of coconut oil to your pan along with the chopped onion, garlic, and dried mushrooms. Sautee for about 5 minutes then add in the ⅓ cup brown sugar and the 2 tbs smoked dulse. Cook for 2 minutes then pour in your 8 cups worth of water/aquafaba and 1 tsp of mushroom and vegetarian ham seasoning. Stir well.
If cooked in a stock pot on the stove, pour the broth into a slow cooker and set the temperature to low.
If cooked in a Instant Pot, change the setting to slow cook Low.

Assembling the Bacon Seitan

Add 2 tbs coconut oil, 1 tbs Nutrional yeast flakes, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp veg ham seasoning, and 1 tsp of MSG to the smaller bowl of white dough that is partially washed. Knead the seasonings in and set aside
Take half of your pink dough and stretch it out into a rectangle on a flat, clean surface. Spread out the white dough over the pink dough to create a thin layer. Take the other half of the pink dough and layer it over the white dough.
Take one edge of the dough and roll it into a cylinder, then fold the dough in half.
Wrap the dough in a low grade cheesecloth (with small, fine holes, like a stock stock)
Add the wrapped dough into your prepared broth (ensure the broth has cooled to the lower temperature set to the slow cooker or instant pot)
Let slow cook for 24 hour, flipping it over every few hours to ensure even cooking.

Curing the Seitan Bacon

Remove the seitan from the broth and let cool.
Unwrap the seitan from the cheesecloth.
Grind your black pepper to make 3 tbs worth (use a mortar and pestle or a coffee grinder)
Mix together the ground black pepper with ¼ cup salt, ¼ brown sugar, and 1 tsp curing salt (or ground koji)
Gently coat your seitan in the mixture, trying to be as even as possible.
Place your seitan in a dish that can accumulate liquid that still allows some air flow (a casserole dish works well here)
Place your seitan in a refrigerator for 5 days, flipping it every day and spooning on the liquid that accumulates from it
After 5 days of flipping your seitan and recoating it in the cure, rinse it off.
Sprinkle on 1 tsp of ground black pepper mixed with 1 tsp of brown sugar and evenly coat. Let it sit in the fridge one more day, the exterior of the seitan should be tacky and dry.

Smoking Seitan

Heat up your smoker according to the manufacture instructions and use your choice of wood chips, apple wood chips are great for this
Place your seitan in your smoker and smoke for 4-6 hours, depending on how smoky you like it- flipping it over halfway through
Let your seitan fully cool and wrap it up tightly in waxed parchment paper and let it rest overnight.
Slice your seitan bacon to the thickness you prefer, and pan fry each slice with some coconut oil (unlike traditional bacon, this is low fat, so you need to fry it in some oil!)
The bacon is good in the fridge for up to 2 ½ weeks, and indefinitely in the freezer