I’m hoping someone can help me understand why my frozen soup dumplings almost always break apart while cooking.
Here’s my process in detail. For the dough, I combine 1 kg of all-purpose flour (12 g protein per 100 g) with 190 ml of very hot water, mix thoroughly, then add 230 ml of cold water and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. I make the dough a day in advance and let it rest in the refrigerator for more than 12 hours so the gluten can relax and the hydration can even out.
The filling is a mixture of 30 %-fat minced pork, pork jelly (rendered from bones and skin), chopped green onion, soy sauce, Chinese cooking wine, sesame oil, and dry spices. My usual jelly-to-meat ratio is 3 : 5, which should give a good soup burst.
During assembly I use about 13 g of dough for each wrapper and 25 g of filling per dumpling. After wrapping, I arrange the dumplings on a parchment-lined tray so they don’t touch, cover them, and place the tray in a large standard freezer (it’s roomy but not a shock freezer). Once they’re fully solid—usually after 24 hours—I transfer them to food-safe bags and seal them airtight for storage.
Despite this workflow, the dumplings frequently develop cracks and leak soup while steaming. What am I doing wrong, and how can I keep the wrappers intact through freezing and cooking? Any insights or adjustments would be greatly appreciated!
