In this dim sum missive, I must confess that I had long been a lazy sod when it came to dumpling wrappers. The convenient path was just to nab a packet of a hundred ready-made for a few bucks. I have now seen the error of my ways thanks to a late night pantry miscalculation that forced me to make a batch from scratch using a ‘hot water’ dough common to every Chinese mother’s repertoire. It sounds unbelievable that anything dough-related can be quick and easy but in the case of dumpling skins it really really is just that simple. No. Really.
What might not become clear until you’ve got a few rounds of dumpling practice under your belt is that the fresh wrappers stretch. Packaged versions don’t. Any extra time you might spend making your own dough and rolling skins will be more than refunded since fresh flexible dough is drastically easier to work into finished dumplings. Plus an assembly line of dough rolling, dumpling filling, and artistic pinching makes for a great evening with friends. Skip the pre-made wrappers. Trust me.
I’ve included the method below if you wisely decide to become a dumpling purist. They will take you about as long to make as fiddling with peeling apart the commercially-made stacks. Try making your own from scratch at least once before you buy another packet of factory produced skins.
150 grams all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
115 ml boiling water (plus or minus a tablespoon depending on daily humidity)
Yield: 16 dumpling wrappers, recipe may be safely doubled.
Sift the flour into a large bowl. Dissolve the salt in the water completely and add to the bowl. Stir to combine with a chopstick and then switch to using your hands to work the dough into a ball. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for at least six minutes. The dough will be stiff but you can probably use the exercise before a dumpling binge. Form into a uniform log shape roughly eight inches long. Cover and allow to rest for thirty minutes. Trying to immediately make dumpling wrappers will be futile. The dough needs the rest.
Divide the dough into sixteen equal portions. Form each into a tiny ball and flatten with the palm of your hand into a small disc. On a very well floured surface and using the smallest rolling pin you have (or even a small can or bottle), roll each into five-inch rounds by rolling flat one half of the disc and then turning a quarter turn to repeat the process until the desired size and thickness is reached, usually about eight turns total. You’ll get the hang of the technique after just a few and since you’re about to do some complicated dough origami with them, they need be far from perfect.
Use in recipes immediately for best results or freeze between sheets of wax paper for later if you manage to have a surplus.
Try one of countless fillings for these as pot stickers.
