Amish Chicken Pot Pie

Place the chicken, one chopped celery stalk, the onion, carrot, parsley, thyme, bay leaf, and peppercorns in a large saucepan or Dutch oven. Cover amply with water. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and skim off any foam that accumulates on top. Simmer until chicken is very tender, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Strain the stock. Cool, then refrigerate stock and whole chicken separately. Discard vegetables.

When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove meat, discarding skin and bones. Cut or shred meat into bite-size chunks; cover and refrigerate.

When stock is cool, skin congealed fat from the top and discard. Bring 1 cup of the defatted chicken stock to a boil, then place in a large bowl. Stir in salt to dissolve. Add 2 cups of the flour, stirring to make a dough. Add remaining flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until you have a dough that is still slightly sticky but back and be rolled out.

Dump dough out onto a floured surface and knead just until it comes together, no more. Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Cut dough into 4 pieces. On a floured surface, roll out one piece at a time to a 1/4 inch thickness. With a knife, cut into 1 to 1 1/2 inch squares. As he cut the squares, place them on a floured baking sheet in one layer. They can be made several hours ahead of time and left to dry, loosely covered, in the refrigerator.

In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, bring remaining defatted chicken broth to a simmer. Add the remaining celery chunks, simmer for 5 minutes, then add enough potpie squares to make one layer across the surface of the pot. Once the broth bubbles over the dough and the dough sinks to the bottom, add the next layer, continuing until you use all the squares. (It's done this way so the squares don't stick together.) Simmer for about 10 minutes, until potpie squares are tender. Add chicken meat and heat through. Serve immediately in individual bowls.