This is a huge and bold combination of Italian spices of seasonings. First, we have the homemade whole-wheat hot dog buns made just a few moments prior to the photo that are so soft and fresh its like eating a cloud made out of love and wheat. Next, we have some fresh rosemary and roasted garlic (Russet Potato) french fries covered in good quality olive oil, and to keep the balance between the two brown carbs I decided to add a nice spinach salad with mushrooms and tomatoes (dressing is optional). But the piece de resistance is the uber-texturized wheat meat, otherwise known as seitan.
Seitan is extremely easy to make, especially if you have some vital wheat gluten on hand (which you will also need for the buns). The brand I used is "Bob's Red Mill" and followed the recipe from this site -
www.theppk.com/blog
(just type "Italian sausages" into their search bar if you're unsure of where you're going) and made sure to salt them to my liking (no matter what, seitan can be a bit plain tasting)
After that, I spread roasted garlic onto the still warm buns and placed some caramelized onions with fire-roasted red bell pepper (jarred) on top with a little sriracha. You can use any combination you like, but I always find roasted peppers with caramelized onions are a hard topper to beat for these sausages.
Hot Dog Buns Recipe:
1/8 a cup of Agave Nectar or molasses (I used black-strap molasses)
1/8 a cup of Vital Wheat Gluten
1/2 a tablespoon of Active Dry Yeast
Egg replacer equal to one egg (Ener-G, flax seeds, or chia seeds are fine)
1/2 a teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 a cup of lukewarm water (Too hot can kill the yeast, too cold it won't become active)
1 and 3/4 a cup of 100% Whole Wheat
Combine the water and yeast together and everything else except for the salt. Mix it together until it loosely forms, then add the salt to keep it from killing the yeast and deflating your bread.
After that, lay some flour down onto a wide surface (I used wheat, but All-Purpose should be fine) and place your dough on top of it. Make sure to cover your hands in flour and knead it for about ten minutes, or until it comes together and is slightly elastic. After that, slice the dough into equal proportions and roll them into the shape of hot dog buns. They don't have to be perfect as long as you can get the basic oblong shape. Place them on a lightly greased baking sheet (I used Olive Oil, but vegetable or canola oil should be fine) and let them proof (rise) covered for about an hour.
Meanwhile, heat your oven to 375 degrees and bake your buns for about 10-15 minutes, depending on your oven. You can also brush your buns with a bit of oil or vegan margarine and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top before baking them to give them a nice texture and shine. Take them out after they are browned enough and let them rest on a cool sheet pan or a wire rack for about 30 minutes. Test one to see if its still doughy on the inside and then you can slit them down the middle and stuff them whenever you're ready to enjoy them. Normally I would say that they're better on the first day since they contain no preservatives, but they're so good that they probably won't last a day!
(Recipe makes about six hot dog buns)
Enjoy!
Signed,
<3 Bou Shin <3
