Chinese New Year is just around the corner!
What more appropriate than to make some delicious dumplings and enjoy them with the family, right? And today I'm going to share with you on how to make dumpling dough from scratch.
It's very easy, let's start.
What Are Dumplings?
Dumpling in general is found in many world cuisines and it refers to a piece of dough that can either be wrapping some type of filling or simply the dough itself with no filling.
The dough is usually made from wheat flour, potato starch, cornmeal and so on.
The filling varies from savoury to sweet and basically can be whatever your heart desires.
There are several ways of cooking dumplings. Steaming, pan frying and boiling.
Today I'm sharing the dough recipe for boiled dumpling, Chinese style. But you can check my other recipe to make dumplings for steaming or pan-fried. I even made them in different flavours!
Types Of Doughs
As I mentioned just now, there are several ways to cook dumplings. Depending on the method of cooking your dumplings, the recipe for the dough varies.
The basic ingredients for dumpling dough are simply flour and water. And salt if you choose to.
The difference between one dumpling dough to the other is in the water.
Steamed and pan fried dumplings that are categorised into gentle cooking method, use hot water for the dough.
Instead for boiled dumplings, which involves a more vigorous cooking method, we use cold or room temperature water for the dough.
The dough for boiled dumplings is also rolled thicker, to endure the boiling cooking process. Doughs for steamed and pan fried dumplings on the other hand, are usually rolled thinner to match their gentle cooking method.
How To Roll It
It's actually fun to roll the doughs since you roll them a bit differently. You can see how I roll them in the recipe video below.
Basically what you want to have in the end are wrappers that are thinner around the edges and slightly thicker in the center.
First what you need is a small rolling pin. It's also known as Chinese rolling pin.
You want a smaller rolling pin because the dough itself is small and you want a better control of it.
Rolling a dumpling dough is different in a way because you only roll ⅓ in and then twist the dough, and continue until you get a disk that's thinner around the edges.
You want the center to be thicker because that's where the filling is going to be.
You want the edges to be thinner because when you pinch the seams, they will be the same thickness of the center and that will result in evenly cooked (boiled) dumplings.
Better Than Store Bought Ones
I know, nobody has time for anything these days. Yep.
But hey, now and then we should take a step back and just enjoy life. And some good old homemade food.
Buying ready made dumpling wrappers definitely saves your time but let's face it. It's the feeling that we all have, nobody cooks better than our own mother.. the same feeling applies here.
Nothing beats homemade food. Even as simple as dumpling wrappers.
They are easier to work with, you know what ingredients go inside it. The real ingredients that you can actually pronounce and picture in your head.
I hope you'll give this recipe a try. Let me know what you think.
In Summary
These dumpling wrappers:
- are definitely tastier than store bought ones
- use basic simple real ingredients
- easy and fun to make
- easier to handle
- TASTY.. did I say it already?
Related Recipes
Maybe you would be interested also in these delicious recipes:
- Chicken and shrimp dumplings
- Easy Chinese steamed buns
- Colourful dumpling wrappers
- How to make Chinese egg noodles
- Shrimp pot stickers
Video Recipe
📖 Recipe
Homemade Dumpling Dough
Ingredients
- 9 oz all purpose flour (250 g)
- ½ cup water (125 ml), room temperature
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Preparing The Dough
- Mix flour and salt into a bowl. Slowly add in water while mixing it with the flour. Bring everything together into a rough ball with your hand.
- Transfer the dough on a working surface and knead for 10 minutes or until smooth. Form it into a ball and place in a lightly floured bowl. Cover tightly with a cling film and rest for 1 hour.
- Take the dough and place it on a working surface. Poke a hole in the middle of the dough using your finger and gently make the hole bigger until you eventually get a 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick ring. Refer to the video above to see this part clearer.
- Cut the ring into 2 equal pieces. Line the 2 pieces together and cut them into 4 equal pieces. Line the 4 pieces together and cut them into 8 equal pieces. Cut each piece into 3 equal pieces. You will get a total of 24 pieces.
- Sprinkle and coat each piece with some cornstarch. Cover them with a damp cloth to prevent them from drying.
Rolling The Dough
- Take a piece of dough and flatten it slightly. Using a small rolling pin, roll ⅓ in and twist the dough. Repeat until you get a 3 inch (8 cm) disk that's thinner around the edges and slightly thicker in the center. Coat both sides of the dough with some cornstarch and set aside. Continue with the rest.
Notes
- How To Use
- I would recommend you to use the dumpling doughs immediately.
- Place some filling inside, wet the edges with a bit of water, pinch the seams and boil.
- Refer to my next recipe for more details on how to use these dumpling doughs.
- Preventing The Dough From Getting Dry
- The dough gets dry pretty fast so try your best work fast until you cover the pieces with a damp cloth.
- Coat the rolled doughs with some cornstarch on both sides.
- Tips
- I'd suggest do not roll all of your dumpling wrappers all at once and stack them. If you leave them stacked for long, they will stick. I didn't have problem with mines because I was rolling them like crazy fast, so don't mind me 😀
- Instead, roll 2 or 3 wrappers at once and then immediately fill them. Sprinkle with cornstarch in between and yes, you can stack them.
- But if you're a beginner and takes a bit more time to roll, I'd suggest you roll 1 wrapper, fill it and then continue with the other.
Annelot says
How long do you boil the dumplings for?
Bea & Marco says
Until they float to the surface, around 5 minutes more or less. Hope it helps!
Joy says
I love your recipe. I have made it many times. Always turns out amazing😊
Bea says
Awesome! I'm happy to hear that. I have other dumpling dough recipes here if you're interested.
Rose says
Can you do these gluten free? Dust with tapioca flour instead?
Bea says
This is not a gluten free recipe as the dough itself calls for all purpose flour. Sorry though!
Holly says
I am excited to try these.
Can you make a large amount and freeze for later?
Bea says
Yes, you can 🙂
Tinkelbell says
Hay there, i always was a little scared to try making dumpling wrappers...😌 but now i have seen your recept. So clear...😁 i will give it a go.
When i have make, (and play with my douch 😇) cook, bake and eat them 😜 i will let you no how it dit go..
Because you are right, ( ! ) home Made food taste much better and i love making food ❤️
with Great taste for my familie 😁😁😁
(Forgive me, if my writting is not so perfect, sorry for that,,.. hope you understand it all😁
My Reading is TOP👌👍)
Bea says
Hi! Yes, do give it a try and let me know. Just the other day I made dumplings with it and made ourselves some dumpling soup with noodles and veggies. I understand your writing perfectly, no worries! 🙌❤️
Bridget says
My fiancé is from Hunan China and they love dumplings and he is in love with them ! I tried others homemade ones but didn’t like the taste ! He loves this recipe so thank you so much !!
Bea says
That's awesome! I'm so happy you guys like it! Thanks for stopping by and letting me know 🙂
Edith Kombe says
Wow I love the racep and I have learnt something thanks.ed
Bea says
Thank you!
Deirdre Dolan says
Loved your recipe and video on how to make dumplings
Bea says
I appreciate that, thank you Deirdre!
Sonia says
These were really great! At first I used a different flour and they did not work at all, the dough became rock hard. However, when I used all-purpose they were really good!
Bea says
Glad to know that it turned out great for you. If you loved this, perhaps you'd also like my colorful dumpling wrappers recipe (plain, spinach and gochujang flavour). Thank you for your feedback!
Lontina Bruce says
Can you freeze the dumpling wraps before stuffing for later use,and if so what is the shelf life !
Bea says
I haven't tried freezing the wrappers alone, so I can't really say. Sorry though!
Hidayah Andrejwna says
Loved this recipe! Using it for the 2nd time today and I loved the measurements! No eggs, backing powder and the water-flour ratio is just right! Last time I used double the amount for more nepali momo dumplings. 😋 I have always struggled to find the right measurements but this recipe definitly has helped me, thank and praise god and god bless your sweet family. ❤
Ella Estrera says
I just made this today. I actually made spring rolls yesterday but I ran out of wrappers so I thought why not try something else. I ran out of time yesterday so I decided to make it today and the dough came out perfectly! I just didn't have a rolling pin 'cause I wasn't really planning on making dumplings so I used a plastic cup instead which worked out fine. Now, we have dumplings for dinner!
Bea says
Thumbs up for the plastic cup!! I'm glad everything turned out great, thank you Ella!
Clara says
Oh I’m trying to use this recipe for pan fried dumplings do I use the same amount of water but simply boiled?
Gerry says
Can you give out some filling recipes? I would love to make them but don’t know what to fill them with. Savory ones would be great.
Bea says
Hi Gerry! You can check out my dumplings with various fillings like chicken and shrimp, vegan green curry, beef with 5 spice, and shrimps. Have fun!
Peg says
Do you cover them again while filling? Can the wrappers be refrigerated before filling . Can they be refrigerated after being filled? These are beautiful!
Bea says
Hi Peg! Refer to my recipe card for detailed info. Thanks!
Mary says
Have you ever experimented with non-gluten flours, such as cassava or millet?
Bea says
No, unfortunately I haven't, sorry!
Kathy says
Can you freeze them after they are filled before you cook them
Bea says
Yes you can Kathy 🙂
Tan says
Thanks for the explanations. Even though these take work but I love doing it. They came out super great!
Bea says
You're welcome. Thank you for your feedback! XO
audrey chin says
good job bea! thank you! the wrappers came out beautiful!
please can you show how to make pot sticker wrappers?
Bea says
That's awesome Audrey! Thank you and I will look into it, happy weekend!
Lindiwe Masondo says
Thanks for this! So what should I use instead of cornstarch?
Pretty hard to get