Semmelknödel (Bavarian Bread Dumplings)
Semmelknödel are bread dumplings from southern Germany, Austria, South Tyrol and Bohemia: stale white rolls soaked in hot milk, bound with egg, seasoned with onion and parsley, then poached in salted water. A Semmel is a bread roll, and in Swabia and Franconia the same dumplings are called Weckknödel or Weckklöße. In Bavaria and Austria the bread is also sold ready-cut as Knödelbrot. They are a side dish for roasts with plenty of gravy, and on St Martin's Day, 11 November, roast goose with dumplings (bread dumplings among them) and red cabbage is on the table in many parts of Germany. Serviettenknödel use a similar dough but are shaped into one long roll, wrapped in a cloth and served in slices. This recipe makes the round kind. The bread soaks in hot milk for 20 minutes and the dumplings simmer for another 20, and a test dumpling adds a few minutes, so allow a little over an hour in all.
What are Semmelknödel?
Semmelknödel are round bread dumplings made from stale rolls, milk and egg. They belong to the cooking of southern Germany, Austria, South Tyrol and Bohemia, and in Swabia and Franconia they go by Weckknödel or Weckklöße. Semmel simply means a bread roll. Austria's agriculture ministry (BMLUK), which keeps a register of traditional foods, says flour and bread dumplings are thought to be the oldest kinds of Knödel, and dumplings made from old rolls came after them. By around 1900, Viennese Semmelknödel had long been a popular side for meat. The word Knödel itself goes back to the Latin nodus, a knot.
Karl Valentin once argued in a sketch with Liesl Karlstadt that the proper name should be Semmelnknödeln, because several dumplings are made from several rolls. The dumplings are served with roasts and sauce, and leftovers are sliced and fried the next day as Geröstete Knödel.
Semmelknödel vs Serviettenknödel
Both start from the same kind of dough. For Semmelknödel you shape it into balls and simmer them loose. For Serviettenknödel you roll it into one long log, wrap it tightly in a napkin, a tea towel or film, and simmer it for 25 to 40 minutes before slicing. The large cut surfaces soak up gravy well, and in big kitchens one roll is easier to make than many small dumplings. Wrapping the dough in a cloth is the usual way in Austria, Upper Franconia and Bohemia. This recipe makes the round Bavarian kind: 8 dumplings for 4 people.
Ingredients
- 300 gbread roll
- 250 mlmilk
- 1 onion
- 20 gbutter
- 15 gparsley
- 3 eggs
- 3 tbspbreadcrumbs
- 1 tspsalt
- 0.25 tspground black pepper
- 1 pinchnutmeg
- 4 lwater
- 1 tbspsalt
Method
- Use white wheat rolls that are a day or two old, still a little springy inside but no longer fresh, or a bag of Knödelbrot. Cut 300 g of them into cubes of about 1 cm (cut any big pieces of Knödelbrot down to the same size, because large chunks fray in the water) and put them in a large bowl. Heat 250 ml of whole milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until it steams and is just about to boil, pour it over the bread and stir with a spoon so every cube gets wet. Cover the bowl and leave it for 20 minutes. The cubes should then be soft right through with no dry corners (if some cubes are still dry in the middle, cover the bowl again for another 10 minutes), and there should be no milk left pooling at the bottom. Hot milk soaks in faster than cold, and small cubes hold together better in the water than big chunks.
- While the bread soaks, finely dice 1 onion and chop 15 g of flat-leaf parsley leaves. Melt 20 g of butter in a small frying pan over medium-low heat and cook the onion for 5 minutes, stirring now and then, until it is soft and translucent with no brown edges. Keep it pale, because browned onion shows up as dark flecks in the dumplings. Stir in the parsley for a few seconds so it stays bright green, take the pan off the heat and let it cool a little, so the hot butter does not start cooking the eggs when it goes in.
- Also during the soak, pour 4 l of water into a wide pot about 24 cm across that holds at least 6 l, add 1 tbsp of salt and bring it to the boil. Only when the bread has soaked the full 20 minutes and the cubes are soft right through, beat 3 eggs and add them to the bread together with the onion and parsley butter, 2 tbsp of the 3 tbsp of breadcrumbs (keep the last tablespoon back for step 4), 1 tsp of salt, 1/4 tsp of ground black pepper and a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg. Mix and knead with your hands for 2 to 3 minutes, squeezing the bread so the cubes start to break up. It is ready when the mass is evenly moist and sticky but not wet, there is no liquid at the bottom of the bowl, and a squeezed handful keeps its shape. A few cubes can still be visible.
- Turn the heat down until the water barely moves: tiny bubbles rise to the top, but it is no longer at a rolling boil. Wet your hands, roll a walnut-sized test dumpling (a Probeknödel), press it firm and lower it into the water. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes, then lift it out and cut it open. It should be whole, with a smooth surface, and set inside with no wet egg; only then taste it for salt. If it frayed or fell apart, knead the remaining 1 tbsp of breadcrumbs (not flour) into the mass; if it tastes flat, add a pinch more salt. Now shape the mass into 8 balls of about 105 g each, roughly 6 cm across, wetting your hands before each one and pressing them between your palms until the surface is smooth and compact. Set them on a plate. Wet hands stop the dough sticking, and a pressed, smooth surface does not fray in the water.
- Lower the 8 dumplings into the pot with a slotted spoon so they lie in one layer and set the lid half on. The cooler dough brings the water off the simmer, so turn the heat up to medium until tiny bubbles rise again, then turn it back down and keep that gentle simmer for 20 minutes, counting from the moment it simmers again. Do not let it boil at any point, because bubbling water knocks the dumplings apart. They sink at first, then rise, float and slowly turn. Lift one out and cut it in half: the inside should be evenly set, moist and springy, with no wet or runny streaks of egg. The dough contains raw egg, so if you have a thermometer, the centre should read at least 71 °C. If the centre is still wet, keep the rest simmering for another 5 minutes and check again.
- Lift the dumplings out with the slotted spoon, let the water drip off for a few seconds and serve them straight away in a warm dish, with a roast and its gravy or with mushrooms in a cream sauce. The dumplings are there to soak up the sauce, so serve plenty of it. Put leftovers in the fridge within 2 hours. They keep for 3 to 4 days, and the next day you can slice them and fry the slices in butter until golden, crisp and hot right through (74 °C).
FAQ
The usual cause is water that boils instead of simmering. Keep it at a bare simmer with tiny bubbles for the whole 20 minutes, because a rolling boil breaks the dumplings up. The second cause is bread cut too big: cubes of about 1 cm hold together, while large chunks of Knödelbrot fray. A mass that is too wet will also crumble, so cook a walnut-sized test dumpling first and, if it does not hold, knead in the spare tablespoon of breadcrumbs (not flour). Finally, wet your hands and press each dumpling firm and smooth, because a loose surface frays in the pot.
Use white wheat rolls that are a day or two old, firm outside and still a little soft inside. Germans call this altbacken, meaning stale but not completely dried out. Knödelbrot, the ready-cut bread sold in Bavaria and Austria, works well too, but cut any big pieces down to about 1 cm. Croutons are too hard. Stale pretzels also work, and dumplings made from them are called Brezenknödel.
Yes, both ways. For raw dumplings, shape them and freeze them spread out on a plate so they do not stick together, then pack them in freezer bags after a few hours. You cook them from frozen exactly like fresh ones, only for a little longer, and the water should still only simmer. They are done when one cut in half is set right through with no wet egg, or reads at least 71 °C in the centre. Cooked dumplings can be frozen the same way once they have cooled completely. Thaw them, then reheat them gently in hot water or covered so they steam, until they are piping hot (74 °C) in the middle.
They are made from much the same dough of bread, milk and egg, and the difference is the shape. Semmelknödel are round, about 6 cm across, and simmer loose in the water. For Serviettenknödel the mass is rolled into one long log, wrapped tightly in a napkin, a tea towel or film, tied at the ends and simmered for 25 to 40 minutes. They are then unwrapped and served in slices. Cooking dumplings in a cloth is usual in Austria, Upper Franconia and Bohemia, and Austria's official register of traditional foods names them, together with Kaspressknödel, as the exceptions to the usual round shape.
Serve them with anything that has plenty of sauce: roast pork and its gravy, Rinderrouladen, goulash or mushrooms in a cream sauce. Around St Martin's Day, 11 November, many places serve Martinsgans, roast goose, with dumplings and Rotkohl; bread dumplings such as Serviettenknödel are one choice. Leftovers keep in the fridge for 3 to 4 days if you put them away within 2 hours. Day-old dumplings become Geröstete Knödel: cut them into slices, fry them in butter until golden, crisp and hot right through (74 °C), and eat them with a fried egg and a green salad.
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