I have a recipe for steaming seitan that involves wrapping the vital wheat gluten loaf in a tea towel, tying off the ends, and placing in the steaming basket.
I am good to go but for the tea towel. Unfortunately, I don't have any tea towels, nor do I have any that aren't either microfiber or bath towels with a fuzzy nap. I have one of cotton quilted fabric. What can I use as a surrogate tea towel?
Tea towels are traditionally made out of linen. It has a delicate weave that is ideal for drying delicate china without the risk of "scratching." A linen napkin although less delicate will most likely still be a very good substitute for the purpose of wrapping the vital wheat gluten loaf.
However, most cloths that have a simple weave without the "loop" weave found on terry clothes and bath towel would work just as well.
I don't own tea towels either. So I generally use extremely clean white t- shirts. They work for proofing dough and wrapping swiss roll cakes.
I tried this once with a tea towel and the slow cooker method of cooking seitan. When the loaf was done, even though the towel had been washed many times over 20 years, when I unrolled the loaf the outside of it had obviously taken on some of the ink from the design on the towel. It looked fine on the inside but I was chicken to try it. I now use cheese clothe doubled to wrap my seitan. YMMV
Pure cotton or cotton/linen baby muslins work very well. They're a similar fabric to tea towels but a little thinner, and often white or even unbleached. They're a little thick to substitute for a cheesecloth though
