Grandma’s Spaetzel

1) Put the flour in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the flour and add the egg and vinegar. Combine. Add water a tablespoon at a time until dough comes together and becomes elastic (amount of water may vary depending on the size of the egg).
2) Cut* noodles into a 2-quart pot of salted water that has achieved a rolling boil.
3) Noodles should float to the top when they are done. Cook at a rolling boil for 7 minutes. Drain and serve.

*Cutting noodles refers to placing the sticky elastic dough on a plate or cutting board and cutting pieces of the dough off into the pot of boiling water. Use a sharp chef’s knife dipped into the boiling water so it becomes hot. Cut the dough away from you and scrape off into the water. The pieces should be about the size of your pinky finger’s first knuckle and no bigger than the second knuckle. The noodles grow, so any bigger and they could become tough in the center.

Variations:
1) Put the above spaetzel dough through a potato ricer.
2) Make a dryer dough (only 2 Tablespoons of water) and grate the noodles on the largest setting of a box grater (my grandmother used to do this for her chicken soup).

Possibilities:
I like to add spices to the basic dough recipe. I enjoy adding an eyeballed amount of paprika and cracked pepper when I cut the noodles into paprikash. I also enjoy adding fresh herbs depending on what I’m trying to achieve. For instance if making a noodle and tomato salad, I finely chop rosemary into the dough. If I’m just doing a quick saute with the noodles in butter, I punch it up with a little nutmeg in the dough or chopped sage. Chopped chives would be excellent also. The sky’s the limit.