Dumpling Wrappers Recipe

Dumplings are lovely widely and homemade dumpling wrappers can make the dumplings to the next level. It is extremely simple to make dumpling wrappers at home with a homemade dumpling wrapper dough, all needed are flour, water, and salt. With this dumpling wrapper recipe, you can achieve better than restaurant dumplings at home.

Why try homemade dumpling wrappers

Dumplings are the most symbolized Chinese food for Chinese New Year. We have ample access to machine-made store-bought dumpling wrappers. And yes, store-bought dumpling wrappers can save lots of time and energy. But making your own dumpling wrappers at home is a quite rewarding family activity during the holiday and it creates much stronger wrappers. And you can use homemade wrappers to create creative dumpling foldings. So I hope you can have a try. Just follow the instructions. This can be interesting. Many of the yummy dishes use dumpling wrappers as the main ingredients like boiled dumplings, potstickers, steamed dumplings, or shumai.

There are two major parts of the process, make a dumpling wrapper dough and circle the wrappers. The first part is quite easy while the second part needs some practice.

Video

There is no need to buy “dumpling wrapper dough”, all-purpose flour with the right range of protein can work fine for dumpling wrappers. Don’t use bread flour because strong gluten will make the rolling process quite hard to handle.

Make a dumpling dough by hand

1. Mix salt if using with flour in a bowl. You may see chefs make this process on board. But the bow method is much easier for beginners. Stir the flour with chopsticks with one hand when the water is poured with the other hand. Mix them for a while until the water is almost absorbed and the floccus texture forms.

2. Transfer the dough to the operating board, and continue kneading for 2-3 minutes until the surface is almost smooth. It is ok if you can’t knead the dough to smooth one time. If you feel tired, just cover the dough in whatever form it is, and let it rest for 15 minutes. After resting, continue kneading the dough will be much easier. Then continue kneading until the dough gets a very smooth surface.

3. Then cover the dough and let it rest for 30 to 45 minutes. Resting can relax the gluten and soften the dough. This is a preparation step for the rolling process. If the dough is too hard and firm, it will be quite hard to roll out. If you are in a hurry, at least make sure the dumpling dough is rested for 30 minutes. Remember to cover the dough either with a bowl or a cloth during all resting times.

The dough kneading process can be finished by a stand mixer, Simply add all the ingredients in a stand mixer and then knead for 6-8 minutes. You need to shape it into a round ball too before resting.

Roll out the wrapper

Make a hole in the center of the dumpling dough with fingers and then stretch and rotate with two wrists so the circle becomes larger and thinner, finally ending with a 3cm in diameter log circle.

Cut the circle into two logs. Then roll each one backward and forwards with force until the surface becomes very smooth and the log becomes firm. This step is extremely important and can save you lots of time in re-kneading the single dough piece.

This can save you lots of time from kneading single dumpling pieces.

Then divide the long log into small dumpling dough pieces (each around 12g). Every single log should be divided into 20 to 22 pieces.

I recommend rotating the log between each cutting so the small dough pieces can line up in two queues, which can avoid them sticking to each other.

Dust each of them to prevent sticky problems.

This process might be quite challenging at the very beginning. Rolling out dumpling wrappers is not as difficult as it might seem. With a little practice, you’ll be able to get the perfect thickness and shape for your dumplings.

Before rolling out your dumpling wrappers, dust your working surface again. Take one piece of dough and press it to a round disc with the palm. Hold the wrapper with your left hand and hold the rolling pin with your right hand. Rotate the wrapper when moving the rolling pin. The wrappers will have thicker centers and thinner edges naturally. The wrapper should be around 8cm to 10cm in diameter. Check the video for details.

Do a small batch (6-10 wrappers for beginners) and wrap them firstly, (you can check how to fold dumplings for more details about how to make the pleats. Otherwise, the wrapper becomes too soft to handle very quickly. The best working process is to get assistants to help assemble the dumplings.

Cooking tips

1. The dumpling dough should be well kneaded until smooth on the surface and well rested.
2. The two logs cut from the dough circle should be rolled back and forth until very firm and smooth on the surface.
3. Keep dusting the operating board and the wrapper to avoid sticky problems. Lightly, please.
4. Make a smaller batch each time and then wrap it with filling.
5. Cover the rest of the dough pieces if you need a longer rolling time to avoid drying out.

How to keep the wrappers

If you have leftover dumpling wrappers, lightly dust each of them and then freeze them in an air-tight bag. Next time before using, rest for around 30 minutes to 1 hour at room temperature until soften back.

Wonton Wrapper VS Dumpling Wrapper

Although they may look like coming from the same dough, they are not the same. Both of the wrappers are wheat-based dough. But wonton wrappers are much thinner and thus needs extra ingredient to strengthen the gluten. Sometimes wonton dough includes duck eggs and sometimes lye solution. So wonton wrappers might be light yellow in color. Dumpling wrappers are thicker than wonton wrappers, and of course stronger. So we can wrap firm vegetables inside the wrappers. For wontons, we only use protein.

Cold water VS warm water

Actually, both cold water and warm water can work fine for dumpling wrappers. But the texture might be different. Cold water dumpling dough produces chewier and stronger wrappers. While warm water dumpling dough gets you softer wrappers. It is just a personal choice. But the temperature of the water should not exceed 60 degrees C.

Dumpling fillings

• Chive and pork
• Roasted eggplants with coriander  (vegan-friendly)
• Cabbage potstickers
• Vegan mushroom potstickers