Knedliky – Czech Dumpling with Sauerkraut (Zeli)

For real Cz zeli it must be sweet/sour. This is to taste: boil your sauerkraut or CABBAGE until very limp-tender. Watch out if you use cabbage (great flavor) that you don’t cook it to mush! Then fry it in bacon fat or better yet LARD. Lard is so useful. Add vinegar and sugar to taste and either grated potato or instant potato flakes just enough to make it a little creamy – again to your preference. l lived in Praha 8 years and THAT’S the way to make Cesky zeli!

Made this tonight with the Czech Roast Pork for New Year’s Day dinner. It was good. When trying to find the name of the pork dish, I came across that recipe PLUS this one on Epicurious. Difference was to cook the dumpling for 45 minutes and rest for 10. No wonder my dumpling was raw in the middle 🙁 But the outer dumpling plus pork gravy was delicious. And the sauerkraut – yum! Homage to my Grandfather! Made with pride!!

I am Czech and find the best way to slice dumplings is with a piece of sawing cotton straight after they are cooked. That way they don’t need to cool and they don’t get squashed.

I am Czech and find the best way to slice dumplings is with a piece of sawing cotton straight after they are cooked. That way they don’t need to cool and they don’t get squashed.

I made this for the first time and shared it with guests. We all loved it! This is similar to a recipe that my Czech dad made for the family when I was young. Brought back some fond memories.

Kind of blah. I’ve made another recipe in the past that was easier and better.

The fact the dumplings were inedible was probably all my fault. I dried out the bread cubes in the oven, rendering them hard as rocks. I think 4 cups is too much for the balance of batter, as well, and the whole thing was a lumpy, wet mess once done. I will try again. This time I’m drying bread slices on the counter for when I get home. I’m going to be prudent with the milk, too. We’ll see what happens! I hope they turn out, because I spent the better part of a day making svickova, and you can’t eat that without dumplings!

I made this recipe as directed and loved it! I will probably add slightly less bread cubes next time. Cooking the leftovers as you would French toast is the best way to extend the pleasure of this old world treasure. Thank you for sharing this recipe!

This is a great recipe. I also have a recipe for knedlicky using yeast, which tastes the best!

I grew up on this dish. My grandma would make it for every special occasion when I was a kid. Apparently my great great grandma made dumplings every day- what a beast of a woman. Her arms must have been the size of tree trunks. My family’s recipe is just flour, milk, salt, stale bread, and a few eggs. You pour as much milk as you want dumplings and then add flour until the dough becomes agony to mix. Beat air into the dough until the dough is shiny and your arm has fallen off. Instead of loaves, we cut big dumplings out of the dough and let those suckers float in boiling water. (we slice them later). I followed a mix of this recipe and my family’s and made mine lactose free and whole wheat. They came out great. I’m eating the worlds best breakfast right now. Fried dumplings and eggs. So good! You can’t make dumplings and not have this the next day.

Made smaller amount, but still good. Very much like real Czech dumplings!!

I only used 2 eggs as suggested. I tried to use bread cubes but they never mixed, so I remade the recipe and used bread crumbs. The bread mixed up better that way. I used the cloth because I was afraid the dough would just run everywhere, but don’t tie the cloth too tightly otherwise it will spill out and not cook properly. I used salted water, covered the pot. I split the dough into two loaves as suggested also. I cooked them for 40 min, turned them over halfway, and they were overcooked. Would shoot for 30 min or less.

How about a THANK YOU to the author of the recipe and trying some constructive criticism? Anyway these came out PERFECT! I only used 2 eggs and doubled the baking power and left out the soda. Also used day old wheat bread. My bf is from Czech Republic and he has a lot of trouble getting his dumplings to stick together ( something about ” hard flour” that you can’t get in the US). So I did use the cheese cloth and it made them so perfect! *** PLEASE NOTE**** that these are Czech, Eastern European style dumplings. NOT the kind of dumplings we are familiar with here in the US. When my Czech native bf introduced them to me I thought they were strange and unusual but they grew on me and are quite tasty.

This is a wonderful recipe I am 100% Czechoslovakian and it was only once a year on my birthday that I would get pork roast and dumplings for my b-day dinner. My mom would never take the time to give me the recipe. Once I found this recipe, I was in HEAVEN. In my opinion, I have perfected this recipe and I can make my dumplings in less than one hour. As far as this recipe goes, I use everything up to the breadcrumbs. As for the milk, I keep that to a minimum as well as the breadcrumbs. I do stir all of the ingredients as directed however; I use judgment with the milk as to not make it too moist of a batter. The breadcrumbs are added last. I have found that too many breadcrumbs create air pockets for water to enter when boiling. Once my dough is mixed, I will use “Wondra Gravy Flour” to roll them to their desired shape. Almost as though you would flour a cutting board for bread dough. (I just use the Wondra flour.) The dough yields enough to make two good size rolls, about what a muffin size would be. I then boil my water to a strong rolling boil. Drop in my dumplings and then boil for approximately 20 min. constantly rolling and turning.

This was the best knedlik i have ever made (so far I was consistently failing at it to the point of giving up). I had Czech hruba and polohruba flours at home, so I have used these. i only had 2 cups of hruba, so used 2 of that and 1 cup of polohruba. I did not have any baking powder at home, so i have used an extra tsp of baking soda instead and this worked fine. I have only used 2 eggs which was enough. I have used less bread (only one bread slice, cubed (toasted it on the lightest setting and left if air dry for a while whilst cooking other things and kneading the dough). I did not bother beating the eggs beforehand, just popped them in. I used smaller amount of milk first, about a cup, then got stuck in with my hands, did not bother with a spoon. I added a little more milk as i worked it, just enough for it not to be too dry, but not too much, so that it holds firm shape. I followed the advices of 200 strokes, but instead knead it 200x times by hand, until the dough was elastic (sprung back when depressed) and did not stick to my hands anymore. Then I wored the bread cubes in and decided to divide the dough into 2 knedliky, which was a good decision as it fit in the pot better. Bear in mind the knedlik will rise as it cooks to 1.5-2 times its raw size. I did not bother cooking it in a cloth, just popped them in salty boiling water. I took them out after 20 mintutes, cutting them in half with a thread and found the center still raw, so popped them in for another 10 minutes

This was so good! I was nervous because the bread seemed difficult in my mind- but was not, very easy and super tasty! I made it with the Czech Roast Pork (Sonya) submitted here – and a super Czech Dinner! Thanks for sharing 🙂

I’m Czech to only my great grandmother used rye bread…quite a nice taste with the pork and saurkraut. sometimes Czech dishes seem so German like because Austria is right over the mountain range.

I have been trying to replicate my grandmother’s knedlicky recipe for a while now- the cheesecloth is a great suggestion! Thanks!

I can finally make my grandmother’s dumplings! I followed another reviewer’s advice, and left out the baking soda. I also only used 2 eggs. My grandmother always shaped her dumplings using her wet hands, so that’s what I did and it worked out perfectly. As for the sauerkraut, I did my grandmother’s. She always made hers with caraway seeds, chopped onions and brown sugar, so that’s what I did. Made a pork roast in the slow cooker with the zeli and I had a childhood dinner I begged for! I don’t have a dumpling slicer (but my grandmother is giving me hers), so I used thread to slice them. The leftover dumplings were cubed and I made another childhood favourite….egg dumplings. They were perfect!

I had this with the Czech Roast Pork. It wasnt what I expected, but it was absolutely amazing – a definite keeper! Thanks for the experience.

I was a bit intimidated as I have never made dumplings before, but I followed the directions, and my girlfriend (from Prague) was very impressed that I made this along with the pork, and Pilsner Urquell. Looks like it may be time to set “the” date!