Knoedel Austrian Bread Dumpling Recipes

SEMMELKNOEDEL (BREAD DUMPLINGS)

Steps:

• Place the bread cubes into a large bowl. Heat the milk until it starts to bubble at the edges, then pour it over the bread cubes. Stir briefly to coat the bread. Let soak for 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onions; cook and stir until tender. Stir in the parsley, and remove from the heat. Mix into the bowl with the bread along with the eggs, salt and pepper. Use your hands, squeezing the dough through your fingers until it is smooth and sticky.
• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. The water should be at least 3 or 4 inches deep. When the water is boiling, make a test dumpling about the size of a small orange or tangerine, by patting and cupping between wet hands. Gently drop into the boiling water. If it falls apart, the dough is too wet. In this case, stir some bread crumbs into the rest of the dumpling batter.
• Form the remaining dough into large dumplings, and carefully drop into the boiling water. Simmer for 20 minutes, then remove to a serving plate with a large slotted spoon. They should come out soft, spongy and delicious!

KNODEL

Steps:

• Butter one 9x11 inch baking dish.
• In a skillet over medium heat, combine the onion, parsley and butter. Cook until onions begin to brown. Pour over bread cubes and toss well.
• Whisk together the eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour over the bread and onion mixture; mix well and allow to stand for 1 hour.
• Firmly press mixture into baking dish; tightly cover with aluminum foil.
• Place baking dish on a rack in a larger pot with 3 inches of water. Cover pot and steam for 1 hour. Remove from pot and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Drizzle with melted butter before serving.

KNOEDEL (AUSTRIAN BREAD DUMPLING)

Steps:

• If you do not have stale bread, leave the bread out to dry overnight, or dry in the oven on low. The bread should be in cubes and put into a bowl.
• Butter a 9"x13" baking dish.
• In a skillet, brown the onion, parsley, and butter over medium heat. Pour over the bread crumbs.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper.
• Pour over the bread crumbs and mix well before leaving to stand for 1 hour.
• Fill a large pot with 3" of water. Place a rack in the pot, then put the baking dish on the rack. Cover and steam for 1 hour.
• Remove from rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Drizzle with melted butter before serving.

AUSTRIAN APRICOT DUMPLINGS: MARILLENKNODEL

Steps:

• Place the cheese in some cheesecloth or several layers of paper towels and let it drain for 5 to 10 minutes, pressing gently, to remove excess moisture.
• With a mixer, beat the cheese until smooth. Add the egg and continue to beat until incorporated. Sprinkle in the sugar and salt, and then gradually add the flour; continue to mix until a dough begins to form. Add the melted butter and mix just until the dough holds together when patted with your hands, it will look pretty wet. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for several hours or up to overnight, the dough will stiffen as it chills.
• Using a knife, make a slit down the seam of the apricot and carefully pull out the pit, keeping the fruit in tact. Stick a sugar cube inside the apricot where the pit was and squeeze the apricot back together to close it up tightly. The sugar cube melts inside the apricot when you cook it.
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Lightly flour a rolling pin and work surface. Roll the dough out into a thin circle and cut out 12 circles with a 4-inch ring cutter. Place an apricot in the center of the dough and carefully bring the edges together to completely enclose the fruit and form a dumpling; make sure there are not any tears or holes in the dough. Working in batches, gently lower the dumplings into the simmering water; they should not be touching or crowded. Cook for about 10 to 15 minutes; the dumplings will sink to the bottom of the pot and then rise to the surface. Carefully remove the dumplings from the water with a strainer.
• In a large nonstick skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the bread crumbs, sugar, and cinnamon, cook and stir for a couple of minutes until the bread crumbs are toasty and golden. Lay the bread crumbs out on a sheet pan or plate and roll the apricot dumplings in the browned crumbs to coat evenly.
• In a small bowl, mix the sour cream, brown sugar, and lemon juice together. Serve the apricot dumplings with the sweet-sour cream sauce on the side and a dusting of confectioners' sugar if desired.

TIROLER SPECKKNODEL (TIROLIAN BACON DUMPLING)

Steps:

• Salt bread cubes.
• Lightly whisk together milk and eggs.
• Pour milk-egg mixture over bread cubes.
• Stir until moistened, cover and let stand 30 minutes.
• Mince bacon and sausage.
• Fry bacon.
• Saute onion in butter, adding parsley and chives (this is a"to taste" option).
• Bring the beef stock to a gentle boil.
• Add bacon, sausage, and onion mixture to soaked bread mixture.
• Sprinkle with flour.
• The mixture should be thick enough to form into 8-12 dumplings (This is done by hand, scoop up a portion of the mixture and press into a ball.) Drop one dumpling into broth and cook about 12 minutes.
• The dumplings should rise to the top when they are done.
• Cut the first dumpling open and check to make sure it is of the proper consistency.
• If it is too hard, add more egg-milk mixture.
• If it is too soft and falls apart, add flour.
• Add remaining dumplings as space allows, cooking approximately 12 minutes each.
• Knödel are served either in broth or over Sauerkraut.