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1
Place the rye bread cubes in a wide bowl. Pour the warmed milk evenly over the bread and leave to soak for 20 minutes. At the end of resting, the bread should be thoroughly softened and cohesive — no dry pockets at the centre — but it must not have dissolved into a liquid paste.
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2
Meanwhile, render the diced speck in a dry pan over medium heat until its fat runs and the meat colours lightly. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. The rendered fat must be incorporated with the speck — it carries flavour through the entire dumpling.
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3
Add the eggs, flour, cooked speck with its rendered fat, and chives to the soaked bread. Season with salt. Mix firmly until a uniform dough forms. This is where the dish lives or dies: press a fistful of the mixture — it must hold a clean shape and not slump or crack. If it slumps, work in a little more flour; if it feels rubbery, the bread was too fresh.
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4
Fry a small piece of the mixture in butter and taste for seasoning. Adjust salt in the remaining mixture before shaping. With wet hands, roll the mixture into tennis-ball-sized spheres — four in total. Their surface should feel smooth and taut under the palm.
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5
Bring the beef broth to a steady, gentle simmer — the surface should shiver and issue small, occasional bubbles, never a rolling boil. Lower the canederli carefully into the broth and maintain this gentle simmer throughout. After 5 minutes the dumplings will have firmed sufficiently to hold against the broth's movement; continue simmering for a further 15–20 minutes until they are cooked through and rise to the surface.
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6
Ladle one canederlo into each deep bowl and pour the clear broth around it. The broth should be golden and entirely unclouded — any cloudiness indicates the heat rose too high at some point during cooking.