Taste of Home: Dampfnudel - third attempt

No, you didn't miss anything. I am reporting the third attempt rather than the second... For some reason, they didn't turn out the second time.

The dough was too sticky, the Dampfnudel didn't rise in the pan and I ended up with this flat sorry excuse for a Dampfnudel that - to top it off - had an oversalted crust. And no, I did not take a picture...

So the curse had struck again! I have this talent for getting things right the first time around - and then never again. We joke about it at work, because it happens there, too. And if I were a singer, I'd definitely be a one hit wonder.....

But - just like at work - I don't give up easily. I am bound an determined to make a reasonably decent Dampfnudel! So - let's try this again - and good luck to me!



I started by melting the butter in the milk. You don't want the milk to boil.  It needs to just be warm enough for the butter or margarine to melt. (This can be done in the microwave.)

Then I poured the liquid into the breadmaker pan and let it cool a bit before adding a scrambled egg to the mixture since I didn't want the egg to curdle. Finally I added a little oil. (See the smiley face in the picture below?)

At this point, it is time to add the dry ingredients. I added the flour and made a little indentation in the middle for the yeast. Then I added the sugar to one side and a dash of salt to the other.

Next, I put the pan into the breadmaker, selected the dough cycle

and pressed start. Now we wait - time for a little blogging....

Since we're waiting: I love my breadmaker.  There is nothing like the smell of homemade bread in the morning.  Just between you and me, I'd love to do an apprenticeship in a bakery to learn how to bake bread like my grandpa used to bake.

While the breadmachine was doing its job, I prepped the pan. You need to use a deep pan with a heavy lid. A glass lid works best for beginners since you can see what's going on through the lid. Pros like my Mom go by sound and smell. She says that the pan needs to be singing, not boiling violently, but singing... whatever that means. And you can tell when they're done, because you can smell the browning crust. That's what I am told anyway....

I added water, butter and salt to the pan and heated the pan to melt the butter.

When the breadmaker was done,

I took out the dough, formed them into 2 inch balls and put them on a floured baking sheet.

Cover with a flour sack towel and let them rise for 15 minutes or until they double in size.

Looking good!

I heated the pan back up, gently placed the Dampfnudel in the pan, turned down the heat, put on the lid and set a timer for 15 minutes. I tried to keep the pan "singing".....

It took a little longer than 15 minutes, but eventually it looked like the water was gone and like there was some browning going on.

Not bad for a third attempt - and they tasted pretty good, too.

Guten Appetit!


Recipe: Dampfnudel


Obtained from here with modifications


For the dough
500 g flour
50 g sugar
50 g margarine
10 g oil (That's just about 1 Tbsp)
1 egg
2 Tbsp yeast
200 ml milk
1 dash salt


For the pan:
200 ml water
50 g butter
1/4tsp salt


PS: My mother uses different ingredients for the pan: 1/2 cup oil; 1/2 cup water and 1 tsp salt