Recipe contribution by Melanie Persson, MasterChef Contestant 2022

Dumplings are an Asian cuisine made from thin sheets of dough. They’re perfect filled with your favourite fillings like ground pork, shrimp, and spices. Vegetarians can use tofu or even scrambled eggs in place of meat.  

Dumpling wrappers only require a handful of ingredients and there are many recipes for making them with wheat flour. Gluten free recipes can be a little hit-and-miss, so Melanie has developed a mouth-watering recipe that we think you’ll love.

“They’re soft, pliable, and flexible, meaning that you can roll them as thin as you need to create the light, delicate dumplings that are so hard to find (and make!) gluten free.” Melanie Persson.

This pastry is made using the Well and Good Crusty Bread Mix – an excellent flour blend to make dumpling wrappers with. It’s available at Woolworths, independent stores, and online.

Let’s dive in and get started.

How to make gluten free dumpling wrappers

For this recipe, a stand mixer and pasta roller will make life a lot easier, but you can knead and roll by hand.

Recipe makes: About 40 wrappers

Ingredients

• 200g Well and Good Crusty Bread Mix
• 2 egg whites
• 30-50ml boiling water
• Rice starch, to dust

Method

1. Place the flour and egg whites into the bowl of a stand mixer and start mixing on low speed with the paddle attachment.
2. As the dough starts to gather loosely, trickle in the boiling water one tablespoon at a time. The exact amount of water you need to add will vary depending on the size of your egg whites and the temperature/humidity of your kitchen, so you will need to add it slowly, allowing the mixture to combine completely after each additional drizzle.
3. The dough is ready when only a few crumbs and loose bits of flour are left in the bottom of the bowl.
4. Swap over to a dough hook and knead for 5 minutes. The dough should be smooth, and quite soft but not so sticky that it clings to your fingers. Adjust with a little more boiling water or flour as necessary.
5. Shape the dough into a log, portion it into three equal pieces, and place in a closed ziplock bag for 5 minutes.
6. Start by rolling one of the dough portions. I roll in batches because the smaller portions are easier to work with if using a mechanical pasta roller, but if rolling by hand, you could roll larger portions at once.
7. Shape one dough portion into a flat disc, set your pasta roller to the widest setting, and feed it through the machine. You might need to dust with rice starch if the dough is too sticky.
8. Gradually work your way through the settings on the pasta roller until the dough is thin enough for dumpling wrappers (1-2mm thick).
9. Dust the sheet of dough generously with rice starch, then cut out circles with a cookie cutter (about 7-9cm in diameter).
10. Stack the dusted dumplings wrappers and store them in a ziplock bag until ready to fill with your preferred dumpling filling (these can be stored overnight in the fridge).
11. When filling, wet your finger and lightly wet one half of the inside of the dumpling wrapper. Fill with approx. 1 tsp of meat or vegetable filling, and then seal by folding the dry half of the dumpling wrapper over onto the damp half, encasing the filling.
12. Boil, pan fry or steam the dumplings until the filling is cooked and enjoy!