Czech Dumplings (Knedlicky)

Growing up, we rarely had pasta  or potatoes in our house.  What we had instead is this, Knedlicky, or czech flour dumplings.

There are two ways to make these dumplings, one using yeast as a leavener, and one that uses baking soda and baking powder.  The yeast can be tricky, so my mother always made this recipe.

These are very much like a boiled loaf of bread, they are moist and dense and spongy and have the ability to absorb a lot of sauce.  I love them!

Leftover dumplings can be cubed, fried in butter and tossed with scrambled eggs and sauteed onions for a delicious Czech breakfast.


Czech Dumplings
Makes one large dumpling that serves 4

1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk

Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk to combine.  Combine eggs and milk and mix well.  Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, and pout in liquid ingredients.  With a sturdy wooden spoon, begin to mix flour into liquid ingredients a little at a time until a sticky dough is achieved.  Continue to mix until dough pulls together and cleans the side of the bowl (at least 200 strokes).  with moist hands shape dough into a log.


Place dough into a very large pot of vigourosluy boiling salted water.  Log will sink at first and then bob to the surface (if after 10 minutes it has not risen to surface, dislodge it from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon).  Boil for 30 minutes , flipping over once after 15 minutes.  Remove dumpling from water and let sit 10 minutes to cool.

With a piece of thread or dental floss, run the thread under one end of the dumpling, thenpull thread together to slice dumpling into 1/2 inch slices.