Hands up if you love dumplings! Those little parcels of goodness certainly bring me lots of joy, and it’s surprisingly therapeutic to make your own Chinese dumplings from scratch. I have heaps of recipes for amazing fillings (more on that to follow!), but what about the all-important dumpling wrappers? Yes, you can buy store-bought ones, but it’s actually very simple to make homemade gow gee wrappers, or dumpling skins. And the best thing? Your DIY gyoza wrappers make the folding process WAY easier! Read on for my simple, two-ingredient recipe, which will make about 20 skins.
Check out my video to make easy homemade dumpling wrappers.
Making dumpling wrappers from scratch couldn’t be easier! All you need is:
(I like to use weight for more precision, rather than give a measure in cups or spoons.)
Place the flour in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre, then pour in the water, stirring with a wooden spoon. Once the mixture starts to come together, get your hands in there and give the dough a good knead until it forms a clean ball. Transfer to a floured work surface, then knead for 3-4 minutes or until the dough is nice and firm – it should bounce back when you poke it with your finger. Place the homemade dumpling dough in a sealable bag and seal. Now it’s time to let the dough rest and steam in the bag for 15 minutes.
Stretch out dough into a bagel-type shape. Then cut it in half to form 2 equal-sized logs. Take one log and roll it to about 2cm in diameter. Cut into even pieces (each log should make about 10 pieces that are about 10g per piece).
Roll out each small dough ball into a flat circle using a plastic cup or rolling pin.
Roll each piece into a ball. Next, take one ball and use a plastic cup or a small rolling pin to roll it into a flat circle so that the edges of the circle are thinner than the centre.
You should end up with a wrapper that’s roughly about the size of your palm. Place the dumpling wrapper onto a floured surface and continue the same process with the remaining dough. Be sure to generously flour between the stacked wrappers and don’t pile too many on top of each other because the weight can cause them to stick together.
The end result should look something like this.
Use your DIY dumpling skins straight away, or feel free to add to a sealable bag and pop in the freezer. (When using from frozen, thaw them for about an hour outside of the freezer. Carefully separate the wrappers and sprinkle each with extra flour before filling and folding.)
Now comes the fun part: filling them! I’ve got lots of recipes for the most epic of fillings – check out a few of my favourites below. Happy folding!
