Bacon.

Here's the bacon recipe we had at Thanksgivukkah (inappropriate?). I have to admit that I was skeptical up until I started frying the strips. Prior to that, it was kind of floppy and bread-like. And I would like to find a way to have fewer bubbles in the dough; I think that would also make it less like bread.

But when they started sizzling, it was like a magical transformation. You could plug this as cholesterol-free bacon, pareve bacon, etc., but mostly I was just amazed to have created bacon! It proved too delicate for the bacon-wrapped dates I'd planned on, so we just cooked it up in slices as a random side.

This recipe was really easy to pull together, requires few special ingredients, and can be frozen in chunk form-- just thaw it before slicing and frying.

The suspiciously underwhelming loaf

Seitan Bacon

(from food.com)

Ingredients

Red Dough:

1 c vital wheat gluten

1/4 c chickpea flour

2 TB nutritional yeast

4 tsp paprika

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp black pepper

2/3 c warm water

3 TB soy sauce

3 TB maple syrup

1 TB tomato paste (I sometimes use ketchup)

1 tsp liquid smoke

*

White Dough:

1/2 c vital wheat gluten

2 TB chickpea flour

1 TB nutritional yeast

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 c warm water

1 TB canola oil

Instructions

1. Mix the doughs up and form into balls, each one separately.2. Break the red dough into 4 pieces and the white dough into 3-4 pieces. Flatten each piece and layer alternating colors on top of each other. This is your time to be creative. Once you have a big block of dough lay it on an oiled cutting board. Place another cutting board/saran wrap on top. Press your dough for at least 30 minutes.

3. After your dough has been pressed bake at 300F for 45 minutes. Your seitan will be a bit undercooked but this is what you want. It makes it easier to slice and it will pan-fry better.
4. Slice into bacon strips and pan fry to the desired crispness you like. Enjoy!