Semmelknödel

Ingredients

Bread

• 300 gstale Kaisersemmeln or white bread rolls, in small cubes

Soaking

• 300 mlwarm milk
• 2eggs

Also

• 1onion, finely chopped
• 40 gbutter
• 3 tbspchopped parsley
• 2 tbspplain flour
• salt, black pepper, grated nutmeg

To cook

• a wide pan of well salted water

To serve

• with goulash
• with Schweinsbraten and its gravy
• with mushroom sauce, Schwammerlsauce
• or sliced and fried in butter

Directions

1. Use rolls that are two or three days old, cut into cubes of about a centimetre. If your bread is fresh, dry the cubes in a low oven at 100°C for twenty minutes and let them cool. Warm the milk and pour it over the bread cubes. Warm milk soaks in faster and more evenly than cold, so the cubes hydrate at the same rate.
2. Let it stand for twenty-five to thirty minutes, turning it gently once or twice. Do not stir it hard, since the point is to moisten the bread rather than to mash it. Add the eggs, cooled onion, parsley, flour, salt, pepper and a good grating of nutmeg.
3. Mix it with your hands rather than a spoon, since feeling the mixture is how you judge it. It should hold together when squeezed while still showing distinct pieces of bread.
4. Add a spoonful more flour if it feels sloppy, or a splash of milk if it will not cohere. Let the mixture stand for ten minutes before shaping, which lets the flour take up moisture.
5. Shape one dumpling and simmer it alone for ten minutes before committing the batch. If it falls apart, work another spoonful of flour into the mixture and test again. Roll them firmly so the surface is smooth with no cracks or loose pieces.
6. Bring a wide pan of well salted water to a boil, then reduce it until it is barely trembling. Never boil dumplings hard, since the turbulence tears them apart within a minute. Simmer them for fifteen to twenty minutes, uncovered. Do not stir the pot at all, and free any that stick to the base with a slotted spoon.
7. Cut them open at the table with two forks rather than with a knife. Tearing them open with forks keeps them light, where a knife compresses and smears them, and it is the correct way in Austria. Serve them with goulash, with a roast and plenty of gravy, or with a creamy mushroom sauce.

Technique

• The bread must be genuinely stale or the dumplings turn to paste.
• The water must barely tremble, never boil.
• Serviettenknödel, steamed in a cloth, avoids the risk of falling apart.

Substitutions

• Any stale white bread in place of Kaisersemmeln.
• Ready-cubed Knödelbrot, sold for exactly this.

Variations

• Serviettenknödel, steamed in a cloth and sliced.
• Speckknödel, with bacon worked through.
• Made with mushrooms or spinach in the mixture.

Frequently asked questions

What is Semmelknödel?

Semmelknödel is a salad & side from Austria: bread dumplings partnering goulash and roasts.

How long does Semmelknödel take to make?

Semmelknödel takes 25 min plus 30 min soaking of preparation and 20 min of cooking. The recipe makes 8 dumplings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Semmelknödel?

Yes, within limits. Any stale white bread in place of Kaisersemmeln. Ready-cubed Knödelbrot, sold for exactly this.

What is the most important thing to get right in Semmelknödel?

Let it stand for twenty-five to thirty minutes, turning it gently once or twice. Do not stir it hard, since the point is to moisten the bread rather than to mash it. Add the eggs, cooled onion, parsley, flour, salt, pepper and a good grating of nutmeg.