Chicken

• Place the chicken in an 8-quart Dutch oven, or a large, heavy-duty pot with a cover.
• Add the water, carrot, celery, onion, thyme, and bay leaf to the chicken. Bring to a boil (uncovered).
• After the mixture has come to a boil, cover the Dutch oven, reduce heat to low, and let simmer for 1 hour.
• Remove the chicken from the Dutch oven and transfer to a large bowl. Set the chicken aside to cool.

Stock

• Increase the heat and bring the stock to a simmer.
• Skim off, and reserve in a bowl, as much chicken fat as you can that is at the top of the stock.
• In a small bowl, mix the 2 tablespoons flour with 2-3 tablespoons of the reserved chicken fat to make a paste. (Add more flour if needed.)
• Add the fat and flour paste to the stock. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
• After the 15 minutes, remove the skin from the chicken and shred it with forks. Add the shredded chicken to the stock.
• Add salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and chicken bouillon. Remove the bay leaf, and continue to simmer for 10-15 minutes as you prepare the dumplings.

Dumplings

• In a large bowl, whisk together the sour cream, milk, thyme leaves, and eggs. Set aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
• Add the flour mixture to the sour cream mixture. Stir until just incorporated; do not overmix.
• Using a ¼-cup scoop, scoop large dollops of the dumpling mixture on top of the simmering chicken stock.
• Increase to medium-high heat, cover, and simmer for 10-15 minutes, or the dumplings are light and fluffy. (To check for doneness, an inserted toothpick should come out clean.)
• Serve immediately, garnished with extra thyme sprigs (optional).