ISO: Dumplings (the flat, noodle type) recipe

[yummfood]

Does anyone have a good recipe for the rolled out, noodle type dumplings?

Also, most of the recipes online use shortening in their recipes, is this preferable to butter? I don't usually have shortening on hand, and if substituting with butter doesn't make a significant difference I'd like to just use butter. However, if shortening is the "secret" to good homemade dumplings I wouldn't mind going out to get some. Thanks!

[mexivilla]

French Canadians call these flat dumplings Sliders. That really confused me when I kept hearing this term used for a kind of American hamburgers.
Here's a link http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-...

[Querencia]

Addendum to my last post: I just looked in James Beard's American historic cookbook and he gives only the recipe for dropped-biscuit-dough-type dumplings. Now anyone raised on rolled-out Southern dumplings knows that is plain WRONG. I see in this thread comparisons with Bot Boi noodles and Spaetzel---again the German connection. I just bet that's the provenance of our Southern dumplings. (Bot boi is all over Southern Pennsylvania and Northern Maryland---chicken and gravy with big rolled-out square noodles, not a "pot pie" at all.) Germans and Scotch-Irish settlers arrived on American soil at the same time and often in the same place, Philadelphia, settled locally, then moved down the coast to Virginia and the Carolinas and then over the mountains into Kentucky and, after the Revolution, into Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and points west, probably making rolled-out noodles/dumplings all the way.

[chefj]

I believe that the "Pot Pie" is because the Pie Dough was cut and simmered in the Pot rather than used as a crust as in a Chicken Pie which has it's origins in Anglo-Franco cuisine. Somewhere in the Americas Chicken pie and Pot Pie got confused, but documentation is hard to come by and there are many opinions about the name.

[Querencia]

This is my great-grandmother's dumpling recipe, copied verbatim from her notes: "2 cups flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tablespoon Spry, scant 1/2 cup water, 1 beaten egg. Stir in water. Do not use quite all flour. Roll out about an inch wide and drop into boiling chicken broth." Grandma was born in 1863 and learned to cook from her grandmother who was born in 1824 so this recipe is probably ancient but as neither baking powder nor Spry existed on the Appalachian frontier I assume that things got modified somewhere along the way. Rolled out-type dumplings are Southern. I wonder if the Scotch-Irish Trans-Appalachian pioneers who made them learned to make these fat noodles from their German neighbors who migrated to the same areas. Does anyone happen to know this history?

[kubasd]

What is Spry?

[Querencia]

Spry (another brand is Crisco) is a vegetable-based semi-hard cooking fat. It looks snow-white and creamy. I think it came along in about 1930. At first it was advertised as a healthful alternative to lard for frying and making pastry. Everybody kept a big can of it and put it in cookies, cakes, pie crust etc and definitely used it for deep-frying and for sauteeing meats etc. These shortenings were VERY popular. Not so much now because of concern about Spry (or Crisco) ending up in our coronary arteries.

[BeaN]

I am also having a dumpling adventure - chicken and dumplings. Like the OP, I want the flat, noodlly dumplings.

I have rendered the fat blobs from the chicken and I am eyeing them wondering if I could use them in the dumplings instead of shortening?

[chefj]

Hell YES!

[yummfood]

Thanks everyone for your recipes! So I ended up using todao's recipe for my dumplings in my vegetable and dumpling soup because it was the most similar to the other recipes I found on the internet for "southern style" dumplings. Basically I wanted to make a meatless chicken and dumplings soup. It turned out very delicious, the dumplings were tender and chewy.

I might try a recipe using eggs next time just to see if there's a big difference between the two types.

[paulj]

Some regions of Spain have a dish called 'andrajos', which is usually translated 'rags and tatters'. It's a rabbit stew, with strips of a simple dough added at the end. I've followed the recipes, but using chicken instead of rabbit, and broken paparadelli (wide Italian noodles) instead of the fresh dough.

[sharhamm]

This is the recipe I use. You can cut the dough in any shape wide or narrow. Plus also you can drop them to cook right into your soup or stew.

* Exported from MasterCook *

NOODLES...Egg Noodles for soup

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 1/4 cups flour
kosher salt to taste
2 large eggs -- beaten
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 Tablespoons water

In a large bowl, stir together flour, 1 tsp. salt, eggs, and 3 tbsp. water to make a sticky dough. Transfer to a floured sheet of plastic wrap and wrap loosely; chill for 1 hour. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Halve dough. On a floured cutting board, roll half the dough into a 1/8"-thick rectangle. Trim and discard edges. Cut dough into 1/8"-wide noodles. Repeat with remaining dough. Gently push noodles off the board into the water; boil until puffed and tender, 8–10 minutes. Drain.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[paulj]

That looks similar to this recipe for 'hand cut spaetzle'
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/ha...

Not too long ago, an Iron Chef challenger made spaetzle like this.

[todao]

From the wonder southern region of our country

2 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup shortening (Crisco, etc.)
1/2 cup milk

Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together. Cut in the shortening using tow knives or a pastry cutter/blender. Add the milk (use enough to make a stiff dough
Roll the dough into a thin sheet and cut the sheet into strips about 1 inch wide. Sprinkle the dough pieces lightly with flour, then drop into boiling stock or soup.
Cover and boil for 25 - 35 minutes (don't peak)

[yummfood]

Thank you, thank you! Could I use butter in place of the shortening, or is the shortening a MUST for this recipe?

[paulj]

That recipe looks like a biscuit dough, producing light floating dimplings, not noodle like ones. In biscuits, butter can be substituted for shortening.

For a noodle like dumpling (e.g in chicken and dumpling soup), one recipe that I've tried calls for:
2c flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder (much less)
3/4c cold water
(no fat)

mix dry ingredients. Slowly add water till you form a nice dough ball
knead about 5 minutes, and let rest.
prepare soup
Roll dough about 1/4" thick, cut into squares, and place in broth.
These will float as they cook, but will be more chewy than biscuits.

http://www.myrecipebook.com/recipes/j...

[yummfood]

Right, I'm not looking for the fluffy, biscuit type dumplings. I want Southern chicken and dumplings type dumplings.
I'm just a little confused because I've been searching for recipes on the web, and some recipes contain eggs, some call for different types of fats (shortening, oil, butter), while others don't, and some contain milk, while others just use water.

[paulj]

The simpler the dough, the more noodle like it will be. What I gave isn't far from the simplest possible - flour, salt and water.

The more noodle-like ones will also require some kneading. Biscuit-like doughs are not handled any more than needed. Keep in mind that basic biscuit dough is flour, salt, bp, fat, and liquid. Whether the liquid is milk or water is not critical. Buttermilk is used with baking soda to give leavening, not something you want in a noodle-like dumpling. Eggs add some richness, and possibly more resistance to falling apart in the soup.

Spaetzle is another noodle-like dumpling, except it is a wetter dough that is forced through small holes into the liquid (or sliced in narrow strips off a cutting board). That dough is flour, salt, eggs, and water/milk.

When I searched a couple of years ago, almost all web recipes were biscuit-like.

[todao]

Well, yummfood, now I'm confused. I'm not sure whether you want a tender noodle or a dumpling. They are not the same. paulj has done an excellent job of helping you distinguish between the two, so I suspect you've got all the info you need to make a great dish.
I often use Spaetzle for soups and stews, but they're not the cut flat style of dumpling you indicated you were looking for so I didn't include my recipe for those.
Let us know how your dish turned out.

[yummfood]

Todao, I apologize for being so confusing! Trust me, its because I myself, am very confused.

The dumplings I'm looking for are the type that look like the ones in the link I've provided. Is the recipe you posted above of this type?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/81181002...

I've been searching the internet, and even for this type of dumpling there are several variations. The copycat Cracker Barrel version calls for milk and shortening, while another southern blog has a recipe with just flour, salt, and water--they're all referred to as dumplings though, not noodles. Even the 3 recipes posted in response are all different! Hahaha. I suppose I'll just use my best judgment . Thanks and I'll let you know how things turn out.

[paulj]

My experience with making flour tortillas and other flat breads, is that fat (whether shortening, lard, butter or oil), makes the dough easier to handle, and hence easier to roll out. When cooked on the grill, the fat helps produce layers (the extreme is flaky pie crust). I don't know what difference the fat would make if the same dough was cut into strips and cooked in a broth.

As long as they don't take you in the biscuit direction, the recipe variations may all work. Some will produce firm, chewy dumplings, others more tender ones.

[Wtg2Retire]

I use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into strips. A lot easier than using a knife.

[chefj]

Are you talking about pot pie dough or Bot boi (tailor's patches')?
1 egg
1/2 tablespoon butter, softened
about 2-4 tablespoons whole milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup all purpose flour
In a large bowl, beat the egg, butter, milk, and the half teaspoon of salt until well combined. Add the flour all at once, stir to mix with the tines of a fork. Once the dry and wet ingredients are combined into large crumbs, knead the dough until everything comes together into a smooth ball.

Break the dough into thirds, and roll each into a thin rectangular sheet. The noodles will puff up after the cooking so roll as thin as you possibly could if you think you’ll like it on the thin side. Let the sheets of noodle dry out for about fifteen minutes before cutting into about 2-inch squares. Insert the tip of a pairing knife into the middle of each dough squares and cut a tiny slash into it.