Traditional Czech Dumplings

Preparation time: 20 minutes      Servings: 4 – 5

Cook time: 20 minutes      Total Time: less than 2hours

Difficulty: Easy -> Medium

Ingredients:

500g/18oz plain wheat flour

260ml/0.46pt milk (lukewarm)

70g/2.5oz breadcrumbs

1tsp salt

1tbsp fast growing yeast

1tbsp sugar

1 egg

+ 1tbsp salt for water

Instructions:

1. Add all dry ingredients to a large bowl and mix them together.
2. Prepare the milk. If you use it cold from the fridge I recommend to make it little warmer you can microwave it just for 20 – 30 seconds to get right temperature ( my microwave has a power about  800 Wats).
3. Then add the lukewarm (not too hot, it will kill the yeast) milk, egg into the mixture and knead for around 10 minutes to make a nice smooth dough. If the dough looks little stiff add some more milk if otherwise use breadcrumbs Then cover the bowl a clean blanket and leave it to rest to rise for at least 45 minutes.

4. After rest.  Knead the dough one more time. Then cut it in two half and form them into a nice long loaf shape like on the picture and leave them to rest again.

5. Now, get a large pot. Fill it with water. Add 1 tbsp of salt and bring it to boil. Then put your dumplings carefully into boiling water. Cover the pot with a lid, decrease the heat (if you don’t want mess your oven). The water should simmer, not boil. Cook dumplings for 20 minutes. Just turn them once after 10 minutes. It helps to be cooked properly on both sides.

6. Then take the dumplings out of the pot and immediately stab them couple times with a fork or a skewer to let the steam get out. If you don’t do that the steam inside the dumplings will ruin them.

7. You can brush them with a slice of the butter for better taste but it is not necessary. Then slice them with sewing thread (or dental floss will do that trick as well). You will make approximately 22 slices around 2 cm/ 3/4 inch thick which is just perfect for four maybe 5 servings.

It is an ideal side dish to serve with many varieties of meat, cooked veg like cabbage, sauces like a tomato sauce, etc. And if you liked my dumplings you can try my another recipe Dumplings x Scrambled eggs mishmash where I use them as one of the ingredients.

Ok. That is all for today. I wish you good luck in the kitchen and see you next time.