The Alpine regions of Trentino-Alto Adige and neighboring Austria and Bavaria — canederli are the Italian manifestation of a single Central European technique that spans Austria, Bavaria, Czech Bohemia, and the Italian Alps. The South Tyrolean Speck version is the most distinctively Italian expression.
Canederli (Knödel in German) are bread dumplings made from stale bread, eggs, milk, flour, and speck or salumi, cooked in seasoned broth and served either in the broth or with butter and cheese as a main. They are the defining dish of the Trentino-Alto Adige and the most eloquent expression of the region's Austro-Italian cultural hybrid. In Tyrol and Austria they are called Semmelknödel; in Bavaria, Semmknödel — the same recipe with minor variations.
The Speck (smoked, mountain-air-cured ham of South Tyrol) permeates the bread dumpling with a smoky, salty depth. The dumpling absorbs the broth during cooking and carries its flavour. In a good broth, the canederli is more than a dumpling — it becomes a bread-and-meat-and-broth experience unified in a single, substantial bite.
Stale bread (white, at least 2 days old) is cubed and soaked briefly in warm milk — the bread should be saturated but not completely softened to mush. The soaked bread is mixed with eggs, a small amount of 00 flour as binder, chopped Speck (smoked, dry-cured ham specific to South Tyrol), chives, and parsley. Shape into balls (hand-sized, about 100g) and cook in gently simmering broth — not boiling vigorously, which would break them apart. Cook 15-20 minutes until firm throughout. The broth version is served as a first course; the buttered version as a main.
Test the mixture before shaping: form a small ball and drop in simmering water. If it holds shape and firms in 5 minutes, the mixture is correct. If it breaks apart, add a tablespoon of flour. If it's very dense and heavy, add a splash of milk. The broth for serving should be a good chicken or beef consommé — this is a dish that reveals the quality of what it's served in.
Dough too wet — the canederli disintegrate in the broth. Boiling too vigorously — the turbulence breaks the dumpling surface. Under-sized canederli — they dry out; they should be large, golf-ball-sized minimum. Not soaking the bread long enough — dry bread produces a dense, chalky dumpling.
Slow Food Editore, Trentino-Alto Adige in Cucina; Giorgio Locatelli, Made in Italy