Followed directions carefully, but my baked tofu turned out like tire rubber! What did I do wrong?

Since some of mine are on Zaar, I will warn you to read my page first before trying them. It is under the name house. There is a disclaimer there on the current database and the recipes located on Zaar. As to easy, look nothing could be easier as long as you know how to do tofu. Since we aren't taught by our parents it isn't easy. First There are two types. One is the Mori Nu type aka silken. It is soft like a cottage cheese or cream cheese. It is best in smoothies and desserts such as pudding Don't try to drain it by pressing unless you plan on crumbling it. The other, waterpacked is firmer. If you freeze it, it is much tougher and more meatlike but will resemble a sponge. Esp if you freeze, drain. Simply put on a slanted board and put a heavy plate or pan on top. Let sit until the water stops running. Now it is ready to marinate. Tofu has taste. However it is so bland everything else overshadows it. Use your favorite 'sauce'. At our house we sometimes just pour sundried tomato dressing or raspberry pecan dressing over it and crumble and serve on a salad. The catch is marination time. The longer it sits, the more it will taste like what you are soaking it in. For a Western Beginner I recommend at least over night. Me? well heck I nibble it as I cut it so... However when we started the wife out on it, I soaked it overnight. Now what to do? Lets see Crumble and put on salad I make a dish that uses the tofu, our favorite bread dressing and veggies mixed in for a casserole. If you are lacto add a vegetarian cheese on top and melt. I make our favorite stir fry sauce, marinate and simply pan fry with no oil [use cooking spray for this]. Bake until golden brown and serve with sides Toss cooked or uncooked in a stir fry Make Chocolate pudding or Vanilla pudding BBQ it Toss in your favorit stew Make Dumplings such as Buddah's Jewels for a fancier meal Mix with Seitan and make a loaf to replace turkey on thanksgiving After you start working with it, the net has oodles of recipes that you can pick up in a hurry. If you follow the link off my Zaar page, it will take you to where I now keep the recipes and I vouch for them as accurate. There is a long page of tofu recipe on the site under Vegetarian/Vegan on this site. Some are for advanced users and some are for beginners. The Orange Lacquered Tofu and Ricker's Tofu Roast are my favorites. The chocolate pudding ain't shabby either. Note Ricker's tofu roast uses Seitan in the mix. That is simple to make. 1/2 cup vital wheat gluten [you can find that in the bakng section usually by Hodgson Mills or Bob's Red Mill] and 1/2 cup water, mix, knead 5 minutes boil in your favorite broth for an hour then use, refrigerate in broth or freeze in broth for future use. And if you run into trouble give a yell. Humm maybe I better thaw the garlic pepper tofu for supper. Psst if you run into any smoked tofu? Give it a try. I love it.

Here's another! And on the same dime: Tofu Pie! Blessings, Jillis! TOFU LASAGNA Ingredients: 1\2 lb. lasagna noodles 2 tbsp. vegetable oil 1 medium onion, chopped 1\2 lb. mushrooms 1 clove garlic, minced 2 tbsp. chopped parsley 1 1\2 lbs. firm or soft tofu, mashed 1\2 tsp. salt 1\2 cup grated Romano cheese 1\4 tsp. pepper 1\4 cup grated mozzarella cheese 3 cups spaghetti sauce Cook lasagna noodles, drain and set aside. Saute onion, mushrooms and garlic in 2 tbsp. vegetable oil. Set aside. In a bowl, mix together tofu, Romano cheese, parsley, salt and pepper. Mix together the sauteed vegetables and tofu mixture. Oil an 8 X 11 baking dish. Place a row of noodles on the bottom of the baking dish. Build layers, alternating the noodles, tofu mixture and spaghetti sauce. Sprinkle a little cheese on top. Cover the dish with aluminum foil. Bake in a preheated at 350"F for 40 minutes. Remove foil. Bake another 10 minutes. Serve. TOFU PIE Ingredients: Pie Filling: 3 diced carrots / 3 diced stalks of celery / 3 diced turnips / 2 diced onions or leeks / 1\2 bunch parsley / 1 small eggplant / 4 Tbsp. veg. oil / 2 or 3 garlic cloves / 1 lb. TOFU / 1 Tbsp. soy sauce

I'm still working on this myself but this is what works reasonably well: I coat the tofu with cornstarch and use a non-stick pan with a bit of oil over a medium high heat -- don't try to turn until you're pretty sure the bottom is browned. It's tricky to get it really crispy like I get at Asian restaurants but that's what works for me, more or less :) I also always use extra-firm or firm tofu that I've frozen first, thawed, and lightly pressed. I generally freeze my tofu first because I like the texture it gets from freezing and thawing. My understanding is that deep-frying probably yields the best results for crispiness but I haven't tried that yet. I might have to get out my wok and try it next time. I love nutritional yeast -- do you use that to coat the tofu?