Potato gnocchi are a basic preparation of Italian cuisine: seasoned with a tomato sauce, baked in the oven with cheese or flavored with butter and sage, gnocchi are always good! Preparing them is really simple: potatoes, flour, a little manual skill and you're done. To have perfect gnocchi, however, we must be careful not to make any mistakes.
Flour: how much?
Potato gnocchi need flour and potatoes: but what is the right proportion? If you overdo it with flour, your gnocchi will be too hard, if you put too little they will break during cooking. The rule says that the flour must be at most a third of the amount of potatoes.
Flour: when?
As in all recipes, also in the case of gnocchi, the timing is important: before adding the flour to the potatoes, make sure that they are not hot but warm. When the potatoes are hot, in fact they absorb the flour more easily and this factor could deceive you making you exaggerate with the quantities.
What potatoes to use?
To prepare good and well-cooked gnocchi, use white-fleshed potatoes which must be old: they are the most floury and with a greater quantity of starch and these elements make them the best for this preparation.
Cook the potatoes
The potatoes must be boiled before adding them to the flour, also in this case the recipe has its tips: dip the potatoes in cold water and put them on the stove, start counting time only when the water has started to boil. Your potatoes will have to boil for 25/30 minutes but to be really safe use a knife: if it crosses the potatoes from side to side then they are ready!
The peel
The potatoes will have to boil in their skins: do not peel them first. In this way they will absorb less water and your gnocchi will keep cooking better.
Knead yes, but how much?
Be careful not to overwork your dough thus running the risk that the gluten present in the flour will activate and your gnocchi will not cook well.
Eggs? No thanks.
Egg is a very thickening ingredient and often used in preparations, in this case however it is not necessary to add it to the other ingredients, if the proportions between flour and potatoes are right, the dough will already be sufficiently compact and soft at the same time.
When do I cook them?
To prepare perfect gnocchi, the tip is to cook them freshly prepared without letting too much time pass, otherwise the advice is to place them on a well floured and spaced wooden surface, covered with a cotton cloth.
Let’s always do a test
To be really sure that your gnocchi cook well without breaking into the water, first try a couple of gnocchi. If they keep cooking then your dough is perfect, if instead they break then add some flour to the dough.
Careful with the pan
To prevent the gnocchi from breaking when you add them to the sauce in a pan, turn them over a low heat and slowly with a wooden spoon, in this way they will absorb the flavor without breaking or sticking together.
Try not to knead it as kneading will develop the gluten and make your gnocchi chewy. Keep some flour in a cup for dusting the board and your hands as you work to stop the dough sticking. Cut your dough into 6 pieces and roll them each into fat ropes about as thick as your thumb.
Try not to knead it as kneading will develop the gluten and make your gnocchi chewy. Keep some flour in a cup for dusting the board and your hands as you work to stop the dough sticking. Cut your dough into 6 pieces and roll them each into fat ropes about as thick as your thumb.
The key is the ratio of potato to flour. The more flour you add, the more chewy your end product will be. Most people like light, fluffy gnocchi so, generally speaking, the less flour you add to the dough, the better. But if you add too little, the gnocchi will fall apart when you boil them.
When cool enough to handle, scrape off the skins and push the potato through a ricer or food mill, then, while still warm, start working your dough on a floured work surface. (Here, Davies offers up another tip to fight the mush: “Spread out the mash to cool; the escaping steam will further take away any moisture.”)
It is very easy to add too much flour to gnocchi dough, which can make these dumplings glutinous, gummy, and sticky. If you dump all of the flour into your gnocchi dough at once, you won't have the same texture as a gnocchi that has just enough flour to bring it together.
Some gnocchi recipes recommend floury potatoes instead, such as Idaho potatoes or Russet potatoes, but I don't always agree. They're too mealy. Tipo 00 Flour is a soft, fine milled flour from Italy. It's a must-have for light and tender gnocchi and homemade pasta.
After baking the potatoes, peel and rice them (or use a potato masher on them) when they're just cool enough to handle. Then let them release steam and fully cool before making the gnocchi dough. Prepare the gnocchi dough by mixing the egg yolks, salt, and flour with the cooled riced potatoes.
Roll into ropes: Using your palms, roll out the dough into a rope about the thickness of your finger (¾-inch). Dry: Let the gnocchi air dry for 30 minutes. Cook the gnocchi: Spoon a small amount of sauce into your serving bowl.
Poach gnocchi in batches in a pan of lightly salted water for 2-4 minutes. Cooked gnocchi will float to the top. Strain and serve immediately with a good pasta sauce. See our how to make gnocchi guide for more information.
Chewy gnocchi are the result of too much flour and over kneading the dough. It's important to knead the dough just until it comes together into a smooth ball and no more. This is because you don't want to encourage too much gluten development which makes them tough, chewy and rubbery.
Unlike potato gnocchi, Roman gnocchi (Gnocchi alla romana), are made with semolina instead of potatoes and flour, that's why they are also called Semolina gnocchi. Roman gnocchi are shaped differently than potato gnocchi.
How to make a firmer Gnocchi. Boil the potatoes with the peel on, that way the potato absorbs less water. Peel the potato and place through a potato ricer immediately, because the cooler they get the stickier they become. An easy way to peel the potato is stick a fork through and peel it using a knife.
Egg yolk added to your gnocchi dough helps improve texture, and keep it together while cooking. Gnocchi is traditionally made with eggs in Veneto and no eggs in Piedmont, the two Northern Italian regions famous for gnocchi. We vote for egg yolks at the rate of 1 per (500g) 1 lb of uncooked potatoes used.
Step two: Bake the potatoes, don't boil them. Water is the enemy of good gnocchi dough. I cook my potatoes by piercing each of them several times with a fork then baking them on a bed of coarse salt to draw out excess moisture as they cook.
Bring a large pot water to a boil; add 1 tablespoon salt.Add half of the gnocchi; when they rise to the top (after about 2 minutes), continue to cook until tender, about 15 seconds more.
You might have incorporated too much flour in the mix. The dough in rope format is smooth-looking and hom*ogenous. The dough is overworked, which results in tougher, denser gnocchi.
Yes, gnocchi dough can be overworked by too much handling. Over-kneading the dough may result in creating too much gluten. This can lead to gnocchi that has a more chewy, rubbery texture. The key is to use as little flour as possible to create a light, airy texture.
Introduction: My name is Mr. See Jast, I am a open, jolly, gorgeous, courageous, inexpensive, friendly, homely person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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