| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 11 hr 55 min |
| Prep: | 15 min |
| Inactive: | 8 hr |
| Cook: | 3 hr 40 min |
| Yield: | 4 to 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 8 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 2 cups, plus extra for rolling
- 2 teaspoons aluminum free baking powder
- 4 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
- 1/3 cup vegetable shortening, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup skim milk, chilled
- 5 to 5 1/2 pound stewing hen, giblets removed
- 7 to 9 cups water
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Special equipment: 7-quart pressure cooker
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, and 1 teaspoon of the salt together in a medium mixing bowl. Rub the shortening into the flour mixture using your fingertips until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add the milk, 1-ounce at a time, just until you have a rough ball of workable dough. Knead the dough 3 to 4 times, until it is mostly smooth, but do not overwork.
- Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough, using a floured rolling pin, to a sheet about 1/16-inch thick, on floured piece of waxed paper or parchment paper.
- Cover the dough, still on the waxed paper or parchment, with a tea towel, and dry for at least 8 hours. This can be done the night before or early in the morning.
- Two to three hours before the dumplings are ready to cook, put the hen, water, and the remaining tablespoon of salt in a 7-quart pressure cooker. Do not fill above the cooker’s “maximum fill” line, or 2/3 full. Cover and lock the lid. Bring to pressure over high heat, approximately 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, so that you barely hear hissing from the pot. Cook for 45 minutes.
- Release the pressure using the cooker’s release device (read the manual!) or cool the cooker by running cold water over the lid for 5 minutes. Open carefully. Remove the hen from the broth and set aside to cool. The meat should be tender and falling away from the bone. Once the hen is cool enough to handle, pull the meat from the bones in small pieces, cover and set aside. Discard the skin and bones.
- Set a cheesecloth-lined colander in a large container and pour in the broth, discarding the solids. Taste and season the broth with additional salt, if needed. Return the broth to the pressure cooker, cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium to maintain a gentle boil.
- Cut the dough into 1/2-inch wide strips, break into 1 1/2-inch long pieces, and drop into the boiling broth. When all the dough has been used, gently push all of the dumplings down into the broth with a slotted spoon. Do not stir the dumplings. Cook the dumplings until they are cooked through, but not falling apart, about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the meat. Serve in bowls with freshly ground black pepper.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 6 servings |
| Calories | 1276 |
| Total Fat | 93 g |
| Saturated Fat | 26 g |
| Carbohydrates | 32 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Sugar | 1 g |
| Protein | 75 g |
| Cholesterol | 282 mg |
| Sodium | 1682 mg |
Reviews
You are willing to wait 8 hours for noodles, but have to use a pressure cooker for the chicken? Not realistic for most cooks. I’ve owned almost every kitchen device over my life and pressure cookers aren’t on the list. Some things taste better cooked slowly.
These are just like my grandmother and her mother made. Absolutely spot on flavor and texture. I make these all the time for friends and they always want the recipe. I never have 8 hours to wait on them though, and find that after an hour of resting, I can’t tell any difference. I like to use homemade chicken bone broth, and add some poultry seasoning to the broth and maybe some parsley to the dumplings. Very forgiving recipe!
Thank you Alton. I’ve been looking for a good rolled dumpling recipe for years. My mother made dumplings like this for her chicken and dumplings. I will have to make this recipe and smile while I think about my Mom.
Delicious! I’ve never had rolled dumplings before. It tastes like thick pie crust noodles to me. Really really good. Super easy. Thank you, Alton.
I added 4 carrots and 2 large sticks of celery, diced up, just a minute or two before adding the dumplings and it was perfect.
Good stuff.
These look really good. My grandmother used to make rolled out dumplings. I liked them, because they don’t fall apart like fluffy ones do, when you reheat them. So, these are my list to make very soon!
Now that’s a dumpling! Dropping Bisquick batter into boiling stock is not a dumpling.
Made T. FLorences C&Dumplings, the fat ones, but they use eggs. My g’daughter is allergic, so the flat ones are better and my hubby liked the flat better than the puffy ones. The dough was easy to work up and work with, no sticking at all, easy and fast to roll out. I froze some cut up and ready to use. I put the chicken in a press. cooker w/6 cups of water to cook for 45 mins. I made a mirepoix of carrots, onion, celery, garlic in another pot with half evoo and half butter (4 tbs total) and 4 TBS flour for a roux to ensure thickening.Then I added the broth, pearl onions, peas, and lastly the dumplings and chicken til cooked thru, about 15 mins. Very good.
Never made(or tasted) rolled dumplings but these are 2nd only to homemade egg noodles. IMHO. Used self-rising flour instead ap, salt, & baking powder so not much worry about gluten & used the food processor.
No pressure cooker so simmered the chicken until it looked like AB’s. Added aromatic veg, herbage, peppercorns, & an allspice berry. Made the chicken the day before boning it then covering with some stock before chilling. Next day I sweated some leeks, onions, carrots, & celery then added stock & cooked until tender–wanted a one dish meal–removed from the stock then did the dumplings.
All in all a perfect comforting meal. Will make again when I can get a stewing fowl which are rare in my small NH village.
I make this at least once a month. I usually use 2% milk. I see little difference in the dumplings between and hour and a day of resting. I add celery, carrots, peas, thyme, and bay leaf. Fabulous!