Knoepfle- Oder Spaetzleteig (Basic Spaetzle Dough)

500 g Flour (4 1/2 cups less 1

-Tbsp) 5 Eggs

1 c Water

Salt Combine all ingredients and stir until the batter is smooth. One part at a time, force through a spaetzle shaver and let drop straight into boiling water. As soon as the spaetzle rise to the surface, remove them with a slotted spoon and rinse in warm water. In olden days, the spaetzle dough was forced through a three- legged sieve, by means of stirring. This resulted in the so- called `Knoepfle` (little buttons). Another method - more common in the Wuertemberg area - is to put the dough on a wooden board and scraping off small slivers of dough, which then results in elongated spaetzle, similar to the ones produced by a spaetzle press. Serves 4. From: D`SCHWAEBISCH` KUCHE` by Aegidius Kolb and Leonhard Lidel, Allgaeuer Zeitungsverlag, Kempten. 1976. (Translation/Conversion: Karin Brewer) Posted by: Karin Brewer, Cooking Echo, 8/92