🥔 SIDE
Houskové Knedlíky (Czech Bread Dumplings)
A light yeast dough studded with cubes of stale bread rolls, shaped into logs, boiled and sliced like bread, the Czech side that soaks up svíčková and goulash sauce.
Czech · medium · serves 6
prep 25 min · cook 25 min · plus 45 min hands-off time
~416 cal · 13g protein · 79g carbs · 4g fat · 3g fiber · 5g sugars · 2g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Houskové knedlíky, bread dumplings, are the foundation of the Czech dinner plate. They are not small round dumplings but long, soft loaves of yeast dough mixed with cubes of stale bread roll, boiled or steamed and then cut into thick slices. Two or three slices go on the plate beside nearly every sauced dish in the Czech kitchen: svíčková, the beef in cream sauce, goulash, roast pork with sauerkraut, or dill sauce.
The dough is made with coarse flour, hrubá mouka, which gives the dumplings their springy texture, plus milk, egg and yeast. It is left to rise, the bread cubes are worked in, and the dough is shaped into logs about 25 centimetres long, which rise again briefly before going into a big pot of simmering water, turned once halfway.
As soon as they come out they are pierced with a fork or cut open to let the steam escape, or they turn heavy and dense. Leftover slices are fried with eggs the next morning.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
- 500 g coarse wheat flour (hrubá mouka)Hard to find? 500 g plain flour mixed with 2 tbsp fine semolina - close to the springy texture of Czech coarse flour
- 15 g fresh yeast, or 7 g instant dried yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 300 ml lukewarm milk
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp salt, plus more for the cooking water
- 3 (about 150 g) stale white bread rolls, cut into 1 cm cubes
Instructions
- 1Crumble the yeast into 80 ml of the milk with the sugar and a spoonful of the flour. Leave in a warm place for 10 to 15 minutes, until frothy.
- 2Put the rest of the flour and the salt in a bowl, add the yeast mixture, the egg and the remaining milk and knead for about 5 minutes to a smooth, soft dough that comes away from the bowl.
- 3Knead in the bread cubes. Cover and leave somewhere warm for about 30 minutes, until puffy.✎ Chef’s noteToasting the bread cubes in a dry pan or the oven first keeps them from going soggy in the dough.
- 4Divide the dough in two and roll each half gently into a log about 20 to 25 cm long. Let them rise for another 10 minutes while you bring a very large pot of salted water to the boil.
- 5Lower the logs into the gently simmering water and cook for 20 minutes, turning them over halfway through.
- 6Lift them out and immediately pierce them all over with a fork, or cut them open along the top, to let out the steam. Slice thickly and serve hot with svíčková, goulash or roast pork and its sauce.
Czech home cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Bohemia. Bohemia, around Prague, cooks for its world-famous beer, roast pork, bread dumplings, and sauerkraut (vepřo-knedlo-zelo). Hearty and unapologetic, it centers the Czech pub and Sunday table.
🗺️
Czechia. Czech cooking is built for its beer, all roast pork, bread dumplings, sauerkraut, and rich gravies. Hearty, Central European, and unapologetically comforting, it centers the pub and the Sunday table.
🌍
Europe. Europe has written a great deal of its food into law. A regulation of 1992 created the protected designation of origin and the protected geographical indication, tying a name to a place and a method, and an EU evaluation published in 2021 counted more than three thousand registered names across those schemes, from cheeses and hams down to particular shapes of bread.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Czechia
Bramboráky (Potato Pancakes)Crisp-edged garlicky potato pancakes flecked with marjoram, Bohemia’s answer to any hour of hunger.
KoláčeSoft sweet buns with a dimple of fruit, poppy seed, or sweet cheese filling.
Smažený SýrA thick slab of breaded, deep-fried cheese served with tartar sauce and potatoes, a Czech pub lunch.
Browse all Czechia recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan, Oven, Steamer.
Storing it: Uncooked parcels freeze well and cook from frozen. Cooked ones keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated and steam or pan-warm to serve.
Make it a Czechia meal
Beton (Becherovka and Tonic)Drink
Ovocné KnedlíkyDessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Houskové Knedlíky (Czech Bread Dumplings)?
A light yeast dough studded with cubes of stale bread rolls, shaped into logs, boiled and sliced like bread, the Czech side that soaks up svíčková and goulash sauce.
Where does Houskové Knedlíky (Czech Bread Dumplings) come from?
Houskové Knedlíky (Czech Bread Dumplings) is a Czech dish from Bohemia, Czechia.
Can Houskové Knedlíky (Czech Bread Dumplings) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Houskové Knedlíky (Czech Bread Dumplings) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Houskové Knedlíky (Czech Bread Dumplings) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Houskové Knedlíky (Czech Bread Dumplings) take to make?
About 1 h 35 min in all: 25 minutes prep and 25 minutes cooking, plus 45 min of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 6.
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