Egg-free dumpling dough

Cooking method

1. Step 1:

   

   The ingredients for the dough are very simple: flour, boiling water, vegetable oil, and salt.

2. Step 2:

   

   Mix the flour with the salt.

3. Step 3:

   

   Add the boiling water and vegetable oil.

4. Step 4:

   

   Knead the dough — knead it well, about 10–15 minutes. I often let a bread machine do this step; it's a big help, but today I'm kneading by hand.

5. Step 5:

   

   The dough comes out smooth and elastic, holds its shape well, and seals together beautifully.

6. Step 6:

   

   Cover the dough with a bag or a damp towel and let it rest; meanwhile the gluten will relax and the dough will be even easier to work with. While it rests, let's make the filling.

7. Step 7:

   

   For the filling we'll need: pork, pork fatback, onion, a little water, salt, and ground black pepper. You can use more or less fatback to taste, or skip it entirely. My pork is lean, so I used about 200 g of fatback to make the filling juicier.

8. Step 8:

   

   Run the meat, fatback, and onion through a meat grinder.

9. Step 9:

   

   Season with salt and pepper and add a little water for juiciness.

10. Step 10:

    

    Mix well, and now you can start shaping the dumplings.

11. Step 11:

    

    Cut off a piece of dough and roll it out thin. This dough rolls out very well and barely sticks to the counter.

12. Step 12:

    

    Cut out small rounds with a small glass.

13. Step 13:

    

    Gather up the dough scraps and add them back to the remaining dough.

14. Step 14:

    

    Put a little filling on each round.

15. Step 15:

    

    Shape the dumplings.

16. Step 16:

    

    Meanwhile, set a pot of water on the stove, add the bay leaf, allspice, and peppercorns, and bring it to a boil.

17. Step 17:

    

    Salt it.

18. Step 18:

    

    Drop in the first batch of dumplings.

19. Step 19:

    

    Cook for 7–10 minutes from the boil, until done. You can check by fishing out one dumpling and breaking it in half.

20. Step 20:

    

    Serve with butter and sour cream! Enjoy.