Southern Style Chicken and Dumplings

There are many kinds of good dumpling recipes (round, made from canned biscuits or pie crust). But the true Southern style dumpling is the flat dumpling that can be thick, thin, short, long, square, oblong or all of the above. They are not necessarily uniform, but oh boy are they delicious.

This recipe is the Old School, made-from-scratch method with my quick alternates out to the side in italic.

Ingredients:

1 whole 4 lb chicken, cleaned and lightly rubbed with salt (I use bone in chicken thighs or breast)
2 onions, roughly chopped
2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
1 sm peeled sweet potato or carrot (I skip both of these, but they do add color)
1 clove garlic peeled (I use garlic powder or minced garlic)
½ tsp salt
2 tsp ground white pepper (I like black pepper...lots of it)
1 bay leaf

For Dumplings:

2 cups all purpose flour (I use self-rising and skip the salt and baking powder)
1 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup of milk.

Directions:

In a large pot combine the whole chicken, 3 quarts of water; and the onions, celery, sweet potato, garlic, salt, pepper and bay leaf. Cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to low and simmer for about 2 hours until chick is very tender (falling off the bone). Remove chicken and drain well, setting the stock aside.

When the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the skin and bones and discard. Set aside meat.

Strain the stock and add water if necessary to make 3 quarts.

For the dumplings, in a large bowl sift together flour, salt and baking powder, Stir in milk until just blended. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until firm. Cover and allow to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. (This resting period can be while you are deboning and removing the skin from the chicken)

Roll the dough out to a thickness of about 1/8 inch and cut into about 1 x 3 inch strips. Allow them to sit about 45 minutes so that when cooked, they do not puff but stay flat like noodles.

Bring the strained stock to a boil over high heat. Add the dumplings a few at a time, bringing the stock back to a boil after each addition. Reduce heat to low and cover pot. Simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the chicken meat and serve.