Basic Pastry Mix — The Dough That Holds Everything Together

March approaches. Nine years of this project. Nine years of dinners at 1800, of writing about the kitchen, of being the military wife who cooks and writes and carries the weight and sets the table. The nine-year Rachel is different from the eighteen-year-old at the whiteboard. She's different from the twenty-year-old bride at the courthouse. She's different from the postpartum woman who almost didn't survive. She's the same in the ways that matter: dinner at 1800. Fried chicken when something is worth celebrating. Pot roast when someone is grieving. The recipe box in the car during every move. The Moleskine journal on the nightstand. The routines are the identity. The consistency is the character. You are what you cook, and I cook dinner at 1800 every night. Ryan's mentoring of Davis is going well. Davis's wife had their baby — a girl. Davis called Ryan from the hospital 'in a complete panic,' according to Ryan, who talked him through the first feeding and the first diaper and the first moment of 'what have I done.' 'I told him it gets easier,' Ryan said. 'Does it?' 'No. But it gets different. And different feels like easier.' Different feels like easier. The parenting wisdom of a Staff Sergeant. Made Mom's chicken and dumplings tonight. The March food. The transition food. Nine years of transitions. Nine years. The transition continues. Dinner at 1800.

The dumplings are the heart of it — soft, pillowy, dropped into the broth by spoonfuls the way Mom always did it, the way I’ve done it every March for nine years now. Everything in chicken and dumplings comes back to the dough: get it right and the whole pot comes together; rush it and it falls apart. That felt true tonight in ways that had nothing to do with cooking. This is the basic pastry mix I use as the foundation — the same proportions Mom wrote on an index card that has lived in my recipe box through eleven moves.

Basic Pastry Mix

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 25 min | Servings: 8 dumplings

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup shortening or cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 2/3 cup whole milk (plus more as needed)

Instructions

1. Combine dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt until evenly mixed.
2. Cut in the fat. Add the shortening or cold butter pieces. Using a pastry cutter or your fingertips, work the fat into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs with pea-sized bits remaining. Do not overwork — visible fat pieces create a tender result.
3. Add the milk. Pour in the milk and stir gently with a fork just until the dough comes together. It should be soft and slightly sticky but hold its shape. Add milk one tablespoon at a time if the dough seems dry.
4. Drop into simmering broth. For dumplings, drop heaping spoonfuls directly onto the surface of simmering chicken and broth. Do not stir once added.
5. Cook uncovered, then covered. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, then cover the pot and cook an additional 10–12 minutes until the dumplings are cooked through and no longer doughy in the center.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 195 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 9g | Carbs: 25g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 310mg