If using fresh spinach to make green dumpling dough, blanch 250g of fresh or frozen spinach leaves in 1 1/2 cups of boiling water for 1 minute, strain the spinach, and add it to a food processor or Vitamix and purée until smooth. Strain the mixture to get 6 tablespoons (90g) of spinach juice adding a little blanching water if necessary to equal 6 tablespoons (90g) of green spinach liquid.

Make sure the dumpling dough isn’t too dry or too wet. Add the water to the flour slowly and mix just until no more flour remains on the sides of the bowl. It should be somewhat stiff but hold together and easily be able to form into a dough ball. The dough should not be wet or sticky at this point. If it is, simply dust it with a teaspoon of flour at a time incorporating it until it’s no longer wet. When using 00 flour to make dumpling dough, you’ll most likely need the full 6 tablespoons of water because 00 flour has a higher hydration absorption rate. If you use all-purpose flour, you’ll most likely need around 5 tablespoons of water. For bread flour I use, I typically add 6 tablespoons of water, but I never dump the water into the flour because everything from what time of year it is to what brand of bread flour I’m using makes a difference in how much water I’ll need to add.

If you feel the dough is too difficult to knead just after you’ve formed the dough ball, cover it with plastic wrap and let it rest for 15 minutes before continuing to knead it.

Homemade dumpling dough needs to rest for at least 15 minutes and up to 3 hours covered at room temperature before rolling and filling. But you can also wrap dumpling dough in sustainable cling film and place it in the refrigerator overnight, or up to 2 days before rolling and filling.

Making Bulk Dumplings: For standard dumplings and potstickers, I like to make them in bulk over 2 days. I make the dumpling fillings and the dough on Day 1 and refrigerate them overnight. Then I roll and fill them on Day 2. Breaking up the tasks over 2 days makes it feel like less work especially if you don’t have a helper.

For more deeply-colored dumpling wrappers, add more vegetables to the water in each dough to concentrate the color: If you want a darker purple, green, or pink colored dumpling wrapper, double the amount of vegetables called for in each wrapper recipe which will concentrate the color and make them even more intense. Do not add more turmeric or you may not be able to eat them because that’s all you’ll taste!

Pro Tip: Use a pasta machine fitted with an electric Pasta Drive to roll dumpling wrappers: When I’m making more than 20 to 25 dumplings, I use the Marcato Pasta Drive my Italian mother-in-law gifted me which is an electric motor that fits onto my pasta machine and does all the rolling for me! If you make homemade