Boiled Bread

Back in the early years of my blog, or 3 years ago, I whipped up a recipe I called “Boiled Bread,” which was based on my memory of a recipe. I knew it wasn’t quite the same when I made it, but it ended up good.

It is essentially a seasoned mixture of bread mixed with eggs and cream, then rolled into a log and poached. I’d also added vegetables. Following are a few photos from this old post.

The “boiled bread” was obviously of peasant origin, because it seems like a recipe created with leftover bread of any kind.

I remember it being very good, and the texture was unique. Plus, I liked the round slices cut from the log. Underneath my blog post title of “Boiled Bread” I wrote – “Here’s my version of that recipe, may it obviously rest in peace.”

Well guess what? I found the original recipe!! I had torn it out of a softback book of international recipes. It’s of Czechoslovakian origin and called Bread Dumpling, photographed below from the recipe page.

It obviously looks nothing like what I made. Mine was good, but I wanted to make the recipe as I had originally. So here it is.

Bread Dumpling
Makes 6 servings

1/4 cup butter
6 bread rolls, cut in cubes
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup all-purpose flour (I used 3/4 cup)
Salt and white pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon chopped parsley (I used 2 tablespoons)
1/3 cup milk (I used 1/2 cup cream)
2 egg yolks
Water
1 tablespoon butter, melted
Cheesecloth
String

I purchased rolls at my grocery store, and six rolls weighed 8 ounces. So this recipe is based on 8 ounces of roll-type bread, although any soft bread will do.

Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a large skillet. Add bread cubes; sauté until lightly browned. Pour browned bread cubes into a large bowl.

Melt remaining butter in same skillet. Add onion; sauté until transparent.

Add sautéed onion to browned bread cubes. Stir in flour, salt, white pepper, nutmeg and parsley. Toss everything in the bowl together.

In a small saucepan, warm milk slightly; beat in egg yolks. Pour milk mixture over bread mixture; blend thoroughly.

I didn’t warm the milk, I just whisked together 1/2 cream and the two egg yolks.

Let stand 20 minutes.

In a deep pan, bring 2 1/2 quarts salted water to a boil. Brush 1 tablespoon melted butter over a large clean cloth. I actually used a generous tablespoon of softened butter.

Spoon bread mixture onto cloth. Use your hands and the cloth to form mixture into a roll. I used a yardstick so that I didn’t make the log longer than than depth of my pot.

Tie cloth at one end, pushing a long wooden spoon handle under knot.

Hang dumpling from spoon into water; boil 40 minutes. I only boiled the dumpling for 25 minutes, because that’s what I’d written on the recipe.

Remove the dumpling from the water and place on a towel. Cut off the ties and gently remove the cloth so that it doesn’t stick.

Let cool, then gently slice into 1/2″ slices or thinner.

This bread is so good I really can’t describe it.

I served it along side some venison short loin and steamed green beans.

In the end, the original recipe, although I made a few important changes, is much better than the version I tried to recreate from memory. I like the cubes of bread, instead of a smooth texture, plus I love the white pepper and nutmeg in the “dough.” I will be making this again!