Bread Dumplings … or not

When I was little, my dad (who served in the Korean War with the U.S. Navy) would sing us a song:

Oh, the biscuits in the Navy

They say they’re very fine

One fell off a table

And killed a friend of mine

It was funny at the time….

I’ve become a competent baker and I enjoy making bread, cakes, etc.  Still can’t make a pie crust to save my life — my mom’s ‘never fail pie crust’ recipe that I found in her recipe box has met it’s match in me.

Dennis & I went to lunch at a charming little restaurant called The Old Prague a few weeks ago.  I had the Chicken Paprikash and Dennis had the Roast Pork (only because they didn’t have the Wienerschnitzel).  We got an order of the dumplings (Houskove Knedliky) and spaetzel.

The bread dumplings were delicious.  I mean, amazingly delicious.  So stupendously, amazingly delicious that I vowed to make them at home.

I did my research.  I searched my collection of cookbooks and the internet for authentic Czechoslovakian bread dumpling recipes.  I settled on one that got excellent user ratings and drove in.

I don’t have photos to show you because I didn’t take any and, frankly, if I had, I wouldn’t post them for fear of frightening the reader and embarrassing myself.

What I wanted to get and didn’t was something like this:

Bread Dumplings - YUM!

What I got, was something heavy, lumpy, doughy and so bad, the dogs wouldn’t even eat it.  Because really, when your “I’m near death because I’m starving even though I just had my breakfast and maybe I’ll just eat that bug crawling by to prolong my life until dinner” dogs won’t take a bite of something, well…it’s bad.

I’ve watched a handful of YouTube videos and reviewed several more recipes and will try again.  I’m apprehensive, but ready to walk on the wild side making another batch of bread dumplings.

Any advice would be seriously appreciated.

Technorati Tags: bread, dumpling, dumplings, Houskove, Knedliky