For me, homemade chicken and dumplings begin with pastured chicken. I happen to have some pastured chicken in the freezer that was raised by our friends, Brian and Coleen, over at Poplar Ridge Farm. Perhaps you raise your own meat birds and that's fantastic. We have raised them on occasion, but I find it is something I am happy to pay someone else to do.
I thaw my bird and then let it cook with salt, pepper, and any other seasonings I like for at least 12 hours (sometimes longer) in the CrockPot until it completely falls apart. The bone broth from a bird that has been cooked for such a long time is especially nutritious!
I then make at least two meals out of the bird. I use the beautiful, white, breast meat to make one meal, such as the Chicken Casserole recipe found at this link. Or, we will sometimes use the breast meat for sandwiches or chicken salad.
I use the dark meat that I pull away from the bone with the hearty broth for either chicken and dumplings or chicken noodle soup.
To make the chicken and dumplings, I do the following:
After deboning, put the chicken and the broth back in the crock pot. While the broth is coming back up to temperature, make the dumplings. Use a spoon to drop them into the hot broth or roll them between your hands to make a uniform-sized dumpling for a prettier presentation.
Put the lid on the CrockPot and leave the dumplings to cook. (I usually add the dumplings a couple of hours before we are ready to eat.) A few minutes before it's time to eat, remove the lid to the CrockPot and let the dumplings dry a little on top.
I use the following recipe for my dumplings:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup lard
2/3 cup milk
Enjoy!