Chicken and Dumplings

Ingredients:

3 to 4 lb. Chicken (whole)

2 Quarts Water

1Tbsp Celery Salt

1/4 tsp Fresh ground pepper

Dumplings:

3 Cups All-purpose flour

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Baking Powder

3/4 tsp Salt

3 Tbsp Butter

1 Cup Buttermilk

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 90 minutes

Preparation:

Place chicken in a Dutch oven or large kettle; add water and salt. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer 1 hour or until tender.  While the chicken cooks, combine flour, soda and salt; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add buttermilk, stirring with a fork until dry ingredients are moistened; adding a little more if dough won’t hold together.  Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface, and knead lightly 4 or 5 times.  Just like biscuits, the more you work dough, the tougher it will become.  Roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness or a little thinner. Cut dough into 1-inch pieces.  I have found using a pizza cutter is the easiest way to do this.  Drop dough, a few pieces at a time, into boiling broth, carefully stirring after each addition so they don’t stick together.  Add leftover flour from rolling or fresh flour to thicken to the desired consistency.  Reduce heat to medium-low, and cook 10 minutes stirring occasionally.  
Debone the chicken, cutting it into bite size pieces and add back to the mixture.  Add pepper and adjust seasoning to taste.  Simmer until chicken comes back up to temperature. 
I now add the pepper close to the end of cooking because I prefer the bright taste of fresh ground pepper.  Pepper that has simmered for hours has an unpleasant bitter taste and smell.  Simmer some pepper in water a few hours and taste it.  You will agree.