Mom's potato dumplings (revised)

1 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
6 larges Russet or red potatoes; about 3 1/2 to 4 pounds
2 Extra-large eggs
1 teaspoon Salt
2 cups All-purpose flour

Directions

Here’s my revised version of my mother’s recipe for potato dumplings with her tricks that I didn’t write down when she gave me the basic recipe: Source: Roberta Brisson

Peel and cut each potato into eight pieces (The Czech cookbooks I have seen, all cook the potatoes in the skin. I guess my mom didn’t learn it this way from her mother-in-law.) Cook in boiling water. When done, drain water off and mash potatoes. However, if you cooked them with the skins on, let the potatoes cool, peel and rice them. Let the potatoes get cold (my feeling is the cooler the better). This is a very important step, because if you don’t you will need to add more flour and adding more flour will make the dumplings become sinkers! (However, if potatoes are very moist, more flour will be needed.) Gather the mashed potatoes into a mound and form a well in the center. Beat the egg with the salt. Pour into the well in the center of the mashed potatoes. Work the potatoes and eggs together with your hands, gradually adding 3 cups of flour. Knead together until a smooth dough is achieved. Knead in additional flour as necessary until the dough is no longer sticky. Keep your hands and the work surface dusted with flour the whole time. Cut the dough into 3 equal parts. Continue to dust dough, hands, and work surface as long as the dough feels sticky. Roll each portion into a long loaf. Cut into equal parts, about 1½ to 2-inches in width. Roll each dumpling into an elongated shape and place on dusted board, and cover with a flour sack towel. Repeat this step until all the dumplings are made. Cook in boiling salted water for about 15 minutes.

Gently stir the dumplings in the pot, so they don’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Take one out and cut in half to see if done, by slicing in half.

(Remember, what my mother said, "If it is soft and mushy in the center, they’re not done. Let them cook longer. Dumplings should have a dry look with holes when they are done.") If not, cook an additional 5 minutes and check to see if done. If there were any leftover dumplings, she would fry them up in butter and serve as a side dish.

Now, if this has you discouraged, I’ll giving you my cousins’ recipe for NO FAIL BREAD DUMPLINGS, Recipe #2 Posted to recipelu-digest Volume 01 Number 634 by QueenBerta@... on Jan 29, 1998

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