Austrian Bread Dumplings - "Semmelknödel"

I am by no means a professional cook or a food blogger, I just heard a couple of talented people struggling with this particular dish, which is such a classic in austrian cuisine.

I - and a couple of friends - find the ones I do enjoyable, that's why I decided to document how I do them. It takes some practice and "touch", do not give up after a failed batch, it took me a couple of attempts, but they are so yummy, you want to have them!

So let's go "in medias res" - in terms of gear, you'll need:

.) one big bowl to mix stuff
.) maybe one smaller bowl to prepare the breadrolls
.) a small-meshed sieve or cloth strainer (to get the liquid out of the soaked bread-rolls)
.) a sharp knife (never use a dull one when cooking, it is dangerous!)
.) a cutting board
.) a big pot
.) a small frying pan
.) kitchen utensils (to fry onions, get the dumplings out of the water, to mix stuff (e.g. a spoon)
.) an unused golf tee

The Ingredients list is actually larger than I thought:

.) old,dry Bread Rolls - I use 4-5 fresh ones and dry them out using "hot air" setting on my oven, takes about 45-60 Minutes at around 60°C to have them ready.
..) if cannot get Bread Rolls, use cut Toast - I made these cutting a Kilogram in to small chunks and drying them in an oven, works perfect.
.) a Quarter of a Liter (or a bit more) of Milk at Roomtemperature to soak the Bread
.) 1-2 medium sized onions
..) a piece of butter to stew them )
.) some fresh parsley (50-80g)
.) 1-2 fresh eggs (start with one, see how the Bread Roll mass develops)
.) 1.5-2 Tablespoons of Salt
.) 0.5-1.0 Tablespoons of Black Pepper
.) 0.75-1 Tablespoon of Nutmeg powder
.) some oil, I use Olive Oil, any kind will do.
.) some Breadcrumbs
.) a glass of Wine - never cook without a sip of wine. seriously!

For emergencies, you might need maybe some more dried Bread Cubes ("Semmelwürfel" - we have them at the supermarket, this is dumping country after all) and flour (1-2 Tablespoons) - if the consistency of the dumplings isn't good.

Here's how to do them:

1.) rip the Bread Rolls into pieces and dry them in your oven (as said, I go for about 45-60 minutes, using ~60°):

2.) wash the fresh parsley, use the golf tee to fix it over your sink to let it dry

Now comes the most important step:

3.) soak the dried Bread Roll shreds in milk, start off with a little, mix it, add more, just add as much as needed to completly soak them. Let the mass rest for a couple of minutes and stir/shred ita again, that process takes about 30-40 Minutes - really shred the big chunks into smaller pieces - and have some wine, you deserved it!

It is important to have all the liquid sucked in, to a point where you can't feel anything crunchy when using the spoon to mix them (or your hands - do as you wish).

After all Milk is sucked up by the Bread Roll Shreds, we get to the austrian part - we get rid of it again. We just enriched something and now we don't need it anymore.

We'll use the sieve and let the Milk & Bread Roll Mass loose the Milk over a sink, stir it, press it - make sure it looses the liquid, then put it into the big bowl:

5.) chop the parsley thoroughly and put it along with the salt, black pepper and nutmeg in the bowl:

6.) mix it using your table spoon:

7.) chop the onion(s) (I just used the big one) into small pieces

8.) stew them onions in Butter:

9.) let it cool down, in the meantime prepare bowling water, put salt in it (same amount as you would do with pasta):

10.) let the glassy stewed onions cool down..

11.) mix the cooled, stewed (takes around 10-15 minutes, do not put it in too soon - you are dealing with a starch product!) onions with the "Bread Roll Mass", add one Egg and a sip of Olive Oil and mix it:

1. I used some Bread Cubes

14.) add some bread crumbs - not too much! A Tablespoon I'd say.. - never use too much, they ruin the flavor through the starch:

5.) let it rest for about 15-20 minutes.

16.) it is hard to describe the consistency - it should be slimey and hold its form.. the more slimey they are, the fluffier they get afterwards.

17.) form dumpings! Wet your hand with water, grab some of the mass, squeeze out the liquid and form dumplings. Start small, in Austria the first one a "victim or test dumpling" ("Opfer Knödel"), we use it to determine if the rest is going to work out:

18.) the water shouldn't be really "boiling" but "wallend" - it should be boiling hot, but not show bubbles, sth in beetween. Drop the "Opferknödel" in and let it boil for 10-12 monutes:

19.) if the "victim dumpling" ("Opfer Knödel") comes out fine - when it has a harder core and a fluffy outside - form more:

20.) proceed and boil the rest - take your time and let them boil for around 10-12 minutes:

turn them every now and then:

enjoy: