Bread dumplings made with the Thermomix® stand or fall on one step that does not happen in the mixing bowl at all: soaking the rolls. We leave the chopped rolls to absorb warm milk for 15 minutes before any kneading takes place. That waiting moment decides whether the dumplings hold together or fall apart into mush in the water.
We have been making bread dumplings for years alongside roast pork, sauerbraten, beef roulades and mushroom ragout. Along the way we have learnt that most dumpling problems do not arise during cooking but during preparation. Letting the Thermomix® run too long produces a tough, rubbery mass that will never form a proper dumpling. Too short and you end up with lumps of dry roll pieces. Both can be avoided by following the steps in the right order.
Bread Dumplings (Semmelknödel) with the Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 8 ✓
- 7 day-old bread rolls
- 1/2 bunch parsley
- 1 onion
- 30 g butter
- 250 g milk
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 eggs
- 500 g water
Instructions 0 / 7
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1
Break the bread rolls into pieces, place in the mixing bowl, chop for 5 sec / speed 5 and set aside.
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2
Wash the parsley, shake dry and pick off the leaves. Peel the onion and halve it. Place both in the mixing bowl and chop for 6 sec / speed 5.
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3
Add the butter and steam for 3 min / Varoma / speed 1.
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4
Add the milk and salt and heat for 2 min / 60°C / speed 1.
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5
Add the eggs and bread rolls and knead for 1 min / kneading mode.
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6
With damp hands, shape the dough into 8 dumplings and distribute them across the Varoma bowl and Varoma tray.
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7
Add the water to the mixing bowl, place the Varoma on top and steam for 30 min / Varoma / speed 1.
Tip: If your dough is too firm, add a little extra milk. If it is too loose, rescue it with a little breadcrumbs.
Video
Nutrition per serving
Why day-old rolls work better
Fresh, soft rolls soak up warm milk in seconds and turn soggy. Day-old rolls have a firmer crumb that absorbs liquid more slowly and evenly. We use rolls from the day before or even two days old: the drier the better. If you have no stale rolls at home, slice fresh ones and dry them out in the oven at 80°C for 10 minutes. That is the only way to rescue fresh rolls.
The 7 rolls in the recipe yield 8 medium-sized dumplings. We chop them in the Thermomix® for 5 sec at speed 5. That gives a coarse crumb with a few larger pieces, not fine breadcrumbs. Chopping for longer destroys the bite texture that makes a good dumpling. The rolls come out of the mixing bowl and wait in a bowl for the warm milk.
Parsley and onion first, then warm the milk
Before the rolls come back into play, we take care of the flavourings. We add half a bunch of parsley (leaves picked) and a quartered onion to the mixing bowl and chop for 6 sec at speed 5. Then the 30 g of butter goes in and we sweat for 3 min at Varoma speed 1. This takes the sharpness out of the onion and gives the dumpling mixture a rounded, buttery base note.
Straight after that, 250 g of milk and 1 tsp of salt go in. We heat for 2 min at 60°C / speed 1. The milk should be hand-warm, not hot. If the milk is too hot the egg yolk scrambles during kneading; if it is too cold the rolls take forever to soak. 60°C is the point at which the rolls absorb optimally without the egg setting.
The crucial soaking step before kneading
Now comes the moment where most recipes move on too quickly. We add the chopped rolls and 3 eggs to the mixing bowl and knead for 1 min / kneading mode. Exactly one minute, no longer. If the mixing bowl runs longer the dough becomes tough and rubbery because the binding proteins in the bread are over-worked. We want a moist, shapeable dough, not a kneaded bread dough.
If you have time, you can leave the dough to rest in the bowl for another 10 to 15 minutes after the kneading minute. It is not essential, but it makes the dumplings lighter because the roll pieces draw in a little more residual liquid. On feast days with roast pork and gravy we always build in that resting time.
Shaping dumplings with damp hands
We shape 8 equal-sized dumplings from the dough. Important: wet your hands under cold water first and keep re-wetting them as you go. Dry hands mean the dough sticks and the dumpling cracks. With damp hands the mixture comes together and you can shape it into a ball without pressing hard.
We spread the dumplings across the Varoma bowl and the tray. Leave a little space between them so the steam can circulate. If they are too close together, the contact points do not cook through properly and the insides turn mushy.
Steamed in the Varoma rather than in water
We always cook bread dumplings in the Varoma, never in boiling water. In water the dumplings soak up liquid from the outside and go soft; in the worst case they fall apart completely. In the Varoma only steam reaches them. The outside stays firm and the crumb inside becomes light and evenly cooked.
500 g of water goes into the mixing bowl, the Varoma is placed on top, and we steam for 30 min at Varoma speed 1. During that half hour the mixing bowl is free for the next task. If you are making a sauce at the same time, the dumpling water left in the bowl afterwards can go straight into the sauce base, saving an extra pot and giving the sauce a subtle bread note.
When the dough is too firm or too loose
Bread rolls do not all behave the same way. Some are bone-dry after three days and soak up a lot of milk; others are only slightly stale. So it is worth checking the dough straight after kneading.
Dough too firm: It crumbles when shaping and cannot be pressed into a ball. Add warm milk a spoonful at a time (10 to 30 g) and work it in briefly by hand, not in the Thermomix®.
Dough too loose: It sticks heavily to your hands and spreads out. Breadcrumbs will help here: work them in a tablespoon at a time until the mixture can be shaped. If you have no breadcrumbs, finely chop an extra stale roll and fold it in.
What we like to eat with the dumplings
Classic alongside roast pork made in the Thermomix® with a dark beer gravy. Just as good with sauerbraten, beef roulades with a thick sauce or a mushroom ragout of porcini and button mushrooms. For a vegetarian option, pair the dumplings with a brown mushroom sauce or lentils cooked in red wine. They also work with a classic goulash or game dishes. We usually serve red cabbage or a cabbage salad alongside, as the acidity balances the richness of the sauce.
Using up leftover dumplings
Leftover dumplings are not a problem but a beloved second use. We slice them about 1 cm thick and fry them in a pan with butter until crispy. With an egg on top that becomes a Tyrolean Gröstl; with mushrooms and a cream sauce it makes a main course in its own right; with onions and bacon it is a hearty pan classic.
Freshly cooked dumplings keep in the fridge for two to three days in an airtight container. Freezing works well too: freeze them unfried, individually on a tray first, then transfer to a freezer bag. To reheat, warm them for 5 minutes in the Varoma or cook them from frozen in broth, which takes around 35 minutes.
Quantities and equipment for 8 dumplings
7 day-old bread rolls, 250 g milk, 30 g butter, 3 eggs, one onion and half a bunch of parsley make 8 dumplings. We allow two dumplings per person as a filling side dish with a roast or a sauced dish. If you are cooking for a larger group, the quantities double without any problem. The mixing bowl can handle double the dough, but the Varoma cannot. For 16 dumplings you need to steam in two batches or run a separate steamer pot in parallel.
The recipe works identically on TM31, TM5 and TM6. On the TM31 we sweat the onion at speed 1 rather than at Varoma temperature because the temperature display is calibrated slightly differently, but the result is the same. The steaming time in the Varoma does not change because it depends on the steam, not the model.
How other recipes approach it differently
For matching side dishes made with the Thermomix®, browse our side dishes collection.
Also worth trying: Sweet potatoes steamed in the Thermomix® Varoma.
Cookidoo and ZauberTopf often use only 2 eggs for 250 to 300 g of rolls; we use 3 eggs for 7 rolls. More egg binds the dough better and makes it more yielding without the dumplings turning rubbery. A Matter of Taste heats the milk to only 60°C; we pour it hot over the rolls so the crumb soaks faster and absorbs evenly. On cooking, everyone agrees: Varoma beats salted water because gentle steam prevents the dumplings from falling apart. Using rolls from two days ago gives the best base.
If you make the roast pork and the gravy in the Thermomix® as well, you have a complete Sunday lunch on the table in 90 minutes. Matching recipes:
- Roast pork with the Thermomix®
- Sauerbraten with the Thermomix®
- Red cabbage with the Thermomix®
- Mushroom ragout with the Thermomix®
