The answer, unfortunately, is yes But not much Regular biscuit dough tends to be really high in fat—a full 4 ounces of butter for every 10 ounces of flour The flour can’t form tough gluten sheets as readily as it otherwise would, because its proteins are lubricated by butter In an oven, this is no problem All you’ve got to is get your biscuits on a baking sheet, and from there, don’t touch ’em until they’re baked and set In the dynamic environment of a pot of soup, however, with bubbles simmering all around, condensation dripping from the ceiling, and pieces of chicken jostling it every which way, the delicate biscuit dough doesn’t stand a chance: it’s almost guaranteed to disintegrate, turning the broth sludgy and greasy The first step to modifying biscuit dough for dumplings is to reduce the fat I found that tablespoons, down from 8, was a good compromise, still leaving plenty of flavor but increasing stability This introduced a new problem, though: with less fat, the dumplings were coming out a little dry and dense, tougher than they should have been I tried increasing the amount of baking powder and baking soda, but neither one worked—the dumplings ended up with a strong chemical aftertaste The easy solution? An egg Each of the two parts of an egg improves a dumpling dough in its own way The fatty, protein-rich yolk replaces some of the fat that was lost when I cut back on the butter But, unlike butterfat, which starts melting and leaking out of the dumplings at around 90°F, an egg yolk does the opposite, becoming firmer as it is heated Emulsifying agents found in the yolk, like lecithin, also help ensure that the fat stays put inside the dumplings The egg white in this case acts as a leavener As the dumplings cook, their loose protein matrix begins to solidify, trapping bubbles of water, moist air, and carbon dioxide created by the baking powder and the baking soda/buttermilk reaction As the dumplings continue to cook, this moist air expands, resulting in lightness and tenderness ... as a leavener As the dumplings cook, their loose protein matrix begins to solidify, trapping bubbles of water, moist air, and carbon dioxide created by the baking powder and the baking soda/buttermilk... moist air, and carbon dioxide created by the baking powder and the baking soda/buttermilk reaction As the dumplings continue to cook, this moist air expands, resulting in lightness and tenderness