Czech Dumplings

This is the recipe for one kind of czech dumplings.
There are so many kinds using yeast or baking powder, with or without egg, with or without stale bread.
It's a little like chili, bread, fried rice... everybody got his or her favourit/best recipe and everybody is right in a way.
This is my way to make these wonderful sponges :) So in case you are in need of very soaking dumplings (mybe your Goulash turned out to be a little too juicy) this is a good start.
Usually you would use a special flour, which is in czech called "hruba mouka", in german "doppelgriffig", "Dunst", "Wiener Griesler", "Spaetzlemehl", depending on the manufacturer.
This flour is a little coarser than normal all purpose or bread flour. So in this case I used a mixture of bread flour and semolina 2:1 which does work all right.

In grams

• 340g bread flour
• 160g semolina
• 1 egg
• 1tsp salt
• 150ml whey (leftover from cheesemaking, you can as well use ordinary water)
• 1 sachet dry yeast

In ounces

• 12oz bread flour
• 5,6oz semolina
• 1 egg
• 1tsp salt
• 5fl. oz. whey
• 1 sachet dry yeast

•     kitchen scales
•     1 big bowl
•     1 large wooden/plastic spoon (opt. bread machine, food processor)
•     1 large pot
•     thread

• mix yeast with a little water (aprox. 1 Tsp)
• measure water, flour, semolina and salt; beat egg
• mix semolina and flour (works best when you pour them together through a sieve), add salt and egg
• form a puddle in flour and pour yeast in, cover with a little flour
• wait till flour cracks and you can see the yeast work
• mix in water (slowly) and form a dough (the semolina makes the dough very sticky, it will be much much better to handle after it had time to rest)
• dough should be rather soft but not too moist...
• put wet towel over your bowl and take a nap (read a book/start an instructable/prepare lunch with lots of sauce)

Most important: leave the dough alone for about 1 hour

• take dough out of bowl and knead it once more, use some more flour if it's still too sticky
• seperate dough in 2-3 parts, form loafs and let them rest for another 20-30 min
• boil water in your largest pot and add some salt (as if you would like to cook some pasta)
• add loafs to boiling water, cover and decrease heat (it should simmer, not boil)
• turn once after 10-15min
• take out after 20-25 min
• cut with thread

Enjoy :)

The obvious way to use any leftovers is to simpy reheat them over steam (in a strainer).
You could take the slices as a bread substitute in french toast, make croutons with them, toast them and eat them with butter/jam/cheese...
Use them to make breaddumplings or let them dry and grind them up to use them as breadcrumbs.