Let’s make gyoza wrappers from scratch! All you need is salt, water, and flour. That’s it! Watch the video tutorial and enjoy the fun and rewarding process.
Gyoza wrappers are not one of those things that I usually make from scratch. While everything homemade is best in the ideal world, who has the time when you can easily buy them from grocery stores?
It wasn’t until when I took upon the challenge of making homemade gyoza wrappers that I realized it wasn’t as daunting and difficult as I’ve thought. You’ll need only salt, water, and flour! The experience is so rewarding that I know you’re going to enjoy making your own gyoza wrappers too.
Watch How to Make Gyoza Wrappers 餃子の皮の作り方
Making gyoza wrappers from scratch is easy and fun, just need salt, water, and flour!
Differences between Japanese gyoza & Chinese potstickers
Japanese gyoza is very similar to Chinese potstickers. The main differences are in the size and thickness of the dumpling wrappers. Chinese potstickers’ skin is typically thicker and the dumplings themselves are larger than gyoza.
If you are able to buy gyoza wrappers locally and want to save time, you can hop straight over to my Gyoza Recipe here.
Homemade gyoza wrappers can be time-consuming, but I find the process extremely fulfilling and calming. Save it for the weekend or on an unhurried evening when you can enjoy the experience. Or make it a fun activity to do with family or friends. Gyoza party, anyone?
The beauty of the homemade wrappers is they are tender and fresh tasting, making them so much pliable to fold your filling. Also, there are no preservatives you have to worry about.
It pleases me more than anything to see my family devouring the gyoza I made from scratch. It’s worth the time!
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
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Have you tried making gyoza wrappers from scratch? All you need is salt, water, and flour! It’s that easy. You can either follow the written recipe or watch the cooking video for visual instructions. And enjoy this fun, rewarding process!
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (plain flour) (240 g; or 120 g bread flour + 120 g cake flour; See Notes)
- ½ tsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; Use half for table salt)
- ½ cup water (Just boiled, should be around 120-150 ml, use more if necessary. Different brands of flour will absorb water differently, please adjust the amount of water if necessary.)
- potato starch/cornstarch (or flour for rolling and dusting; if you’re going to freeze udon noodles, you may want to use potato starch/cornstarch as the flour tends to be absorbed by udon noodles and stick to each other.)
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Gather all the ingredients.
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Before you start, you need to accurately measure flour. If you don’t have a kitchen scale (I highly recommend getting one like this), stir the flour in the bowl, scoop it up with a spoon, sprinkle into the 1-cup measuring cup, and level off the top. Put the flour into a medium bowl. The amount of flour should be close to standard 4.25 oz (120 g) per cup.
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Sift the flour into a large bowl.
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Add salt to just-boiled water and mix until completely dissolved.
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Add the just-boiled water into the flour little by little, stirring with a rubber spatula. You will eventually need to use your hands to form the dough into a ball. If the flour is still separated, add ½ Tbsp water at a time till you can form the texture into a ball.
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Transfer the dough to the work surface and knead the dough for 10 minutes.
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After 10 minutes, the texture of the dough will be much smoother. Cut the dough in half.
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Shape each half into a long log, about 1½ inches in diameter (it doesn’t have to be perfect if you’re going to use a cookie-cutter later). Wrap each log with plastic wrap. Let it sit for 30 minutes.
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Unwrap the dough. Sprinkle a little potato starch on the work surface and cut each log crosswise into about 12 pieces (may vary depending on the log length and width). Since we’ll be using a cookie cutter, don’t worry if each piece of dough has a slightly different size.
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It’s super important to cover the dough with a damp kitchen towel at all times to prevent it from drying.
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For each piece of dough into a ball shape.
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Press the ball onto the work surface.
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Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough, but DO NOT roll out (flatten) the TOP and BOTTOM edge. This is a trick to make a nice round shape.
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Rotate the dough 90 degrees and repeat rolling the dough to make a nice round shape. Try to roll out the dough to a thin circle. If the dough is hard to roll out or shrinks back, let it rest a bit to relax the gluten.
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[Optional] If you want a perfectly round shape for your wrappers, press down the 3-inch (8 cm) cookie cutter and remove excess dough. If the dough rolls back, leave it for a few seconds, and cut out. Cover the scraps with the damp towel. Later combine all the scraps as long as they still squish together and haven’t dried out too much. Re-roll the scraps and repeat the process.
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Sprinkle each wrapper with potato starch and stack the gyoza wrappers. Make sure to the wrappers covered with a damp kitchen towel. Once all the dough is used, wrap the gyoza wrappers with plastic wrap and freeze or refrigerate until you’re ready to use.
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You can keep gyoza wrappers in the refrigerator for about 3-4 days and in the freezer for up to a month. Prior to use, defrost in the refrigerator overnight or on the counter for 60 minutes (depending on the amount and room temperature). Do not defrost in the microwave.
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For gyoza recipe, please click here.
Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on February 19, 2014. It’s been updated and republished in July 2020.
Source: Just One Cookbook
