Making Gyoza Wrappers

I have a fear of dough.
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I don't know why. I have absolutely no idea where it comes from. Maybe there's some traumatic pre-school mishap with play-doh buried deep in my subconscious, who knows?...But for whatever reason, it's there.
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Whenever I attempt to make a pie crust or ::gasp:: a bread recipe, a little knot of dread settles in my belly. And while I try to push past it, keeping my eye on the prize...this fear has been a serious roadblock in my development as a well-rounded cook.

Recently, that familiar sense of uneasiness hit me when I was in the mood for Gyoza. Gyoza (also known as potstickers) are those plump asian dumplings, filled with meat and/or veggies that usually come served with a yummy dipping sauce. Because they are both pan-fried and steamed, they manage to be crispy and chewy at the same time. Sooo delicious!

Gyoza /Potsticker wrappers
Now, usually, I don't have to worry about making dough when it comes to assembling these dumplings; pre-made wrappers can be found in most asian markets and some well stocked supermarkets.

In fact, the convenience of having the store bought wrappers is probably what makes making gyoza at home so appealing to me. All I have to do is change the fillings to suit my mood, no real effort required :).
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So, imagine my disappointment when I opened my freezer, and there were no wrappers to be found!

I'd had an idea for a filling that had been on my mind for a while, and I guess my eagerness to see how it would turn out was stronger than my fear...not even the prospect of making dough could deter me, lol.

So, I pulled out all of those recipes, all those with instructions on how to make your own dumpling skins, the ones that for so long I had basically ignored, and thought to myself, "No time better than the present, right?"

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Who knew, maybe I'd find making the wrappers by hand wasn't such a big deal...

Gyoza / Potsticker Wrappers

makes about 40-50

3 cups all-purpose flour

7 ounces hot (just off the boil) water

4-5 tablespoons cold water

1/4 teaspoon salt

-Start by combining the salt and flour in a large bowl.

-Stir the just boiled water into the flour with a large fork, until the mixture looks flaky and crumbly.

-Slowly mix in the cold water until the dough pulls together...be careful though, it shouldn't be sticky.

-Knead the dough for about 5 minutes until smooth.

-Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let rest for 30 minutes.

-After the dough has rested, split it into 4-5 parts. Keep the dough you're not using under a damp cloth until ready to roll out.

- Roll out each ball of dough thinly. Cut out anywhere from 3 1/4" to 4" size circles with a cookie-cutter or glass.

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(I dusted my rolling board with flour, but in hindsight, I don't think it really needed it. I actually think it made rolling the dough more difficult for me. But if you feel your dough needs it, keep some extra flour nearby)

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-Now they're ready to be filled!

I wasn't ready to use them right away, so I dusted them with a bit of flour, wrapped them in wax paper(in small batches) and kept them in a bag in the fridge until the next day. There wasn't really a problem with sticking, so they might survive freezing like this too...

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Afterthoughts: I don't know if this was due to the nature of homemade wrappers, or something that I did wrong (I'm banking on the latter), but they seemed to shrink a bit before I got around to using them. I ended up having to pinch out the edges until they became large enough to encase the filling properly. They worked fine after that.

Honestly, I'm not sure how often I'll make the wrappers from scratch. You've gotta love convenience of the storebought ones, lol.

But I guess there wasn't that much to fear after all?

:o) To be continued ...