To make tempeh in the full size pan ( about 20” x 12“) we soaked 25 oz. of dry roasted non GMO soybean halves for 24 hrs. Start with a pot of boiling water - use enough water because the beans will expand to twice their volume. Pour the beans into the pot and turn off the heat, put on the lid and leave it sit.
Take 3.6 oz.pearled barley and cook for 20 min. During this time, drain the beans and add just enough water to cover them and then heat them on the stove so that when the barley is done, the beans are very hot.
Drain the barley and the beans and put them into a large bowl - keep stirring while using a hair dryer to dry the mixture. Stir until they are dry - this is very important since wet beans make bad tempeh. When the mixture of beans and barley is dry, add 9 g of tempeh culture ( rounded tsp) and mix well.
Next, pour this mixture into the pan and spread evenly. Tamp the mixture down lightly after it is spread evenly; now the pan is now ready for the cooler/incubator.
The temperature of (at least) 8 gallons of water should be 89∘ F. The tempeh produces heat after about 12 hrs. and the water prevents it from overheating.
A small aquarium air pump should pump air into the water through an air bubbler tube.
After 22 hrs. the tempeh can be taken out. If it goes longer it will slowly turn black (it will make spores). It should have a pleasant aroma and be predominantly white. If it was too wet at the beginning, it might smell more like ammonia and should not be eaten.
For the 10" x 15” tray we used 14 oz. of beans, 2 oz. pearled barley and a slightly rounded teaspoon of tempeh starter.
We recommend pasteurizing the tempeh after it comes out of the incubator. This will stop the culture from continuing to grow. Put the pan (with a lid) into the oven for 30 min. at 225 ∘F.
You can adjust these recipes up and down if you want the resulting patties to be thicker or thinner.
For meal recipes using tempeh: many can be found on the web and in cookbooks. Most often the tempeh is pre marinated with low salt tamari, about 3 tablespoons for 8 oz. of tempeh. Leave it in the refrigerator with the marinade for 24 hrs. Tempeh freezes and unfreezes quite well. We like to pre marinate our patties before we freeze them, then they are ready to use when you want to make yourself a quick sandwich.
Betsy’s Tempeh Burger:
We brush the pre marinated pattie with Hot Pepper Sesame Oil and broil lightly.