I followed all measurements and 150g of flour was not enough. Dough was VERY runny, I used more flour, probably 300g and it’s still too sticky to roll. Pasta Queen disapointed me with my first try from her cookbook. Lol what did I do wrong? Should I add more flour? What consistency should it be?
by Intelligent-Fix-4354
11 Comments
Bake the potatoes rather than boil them.
How long did the potatoes sit after you removed them from the pot? If they were still steaming, they might have had too much moisture left in them.
How hot were the potatoes when you added them to the dough? Sounds like the potatoes were still giving off a ton of steam that was absorbed by the flour.
I would try letting the potatoes cool off quite a bit more, and i would also consider using baked potatoes instead of boiled.
I think beginners should either microwave or bake the potatoes instead of boiling. And yes if the dough is sticky add more flour.
Potato gnocchi is notoriously tricky to get right. The best step-by-step recipe I’ve found is [this one on Serious Eats.](https://www.seriouseats.com/light-tender-potato-gnocchi-recipe).
It’s a long read, but it got me to where I could consistently produce good, tender potato gnocchi.
Did you peel the potatoes? You should boil them whole, unpeeled. It doesn’t say so in the recipe but is implied in step 2 when it says drain and then peel.
Boiling the potatoes is fine as long as you allow them to drain well in the colander and then lay them out on a cloth-lined sheet pan to cool to room temperature.
This lady would have you use the well method used for traditional pasta dough, which I have never seen used to make gnocchi and I’ve been working in restaurants for a long time and made gnocchi hundreds of times myself. Also, adding the flour before the eggs makes no sense.
Once your cooled potatoes are riced into your bowl, use a fork to gently but thoroughly incorporate beaten egg and your preferred seasonings (salt, pepper or white pepper, nutmeg – little goes a long way, same with white pepper, parm, etc.) and add the flour last to turn the mixture into a dough. After the flour is incorporated you can turn out onto a floured work surface and knead for just a bit, but don’t go crazy. Maybe 30, 45 seconds. Personally I like my gnocchi to have a little bite, but I don’t want them tough or gummy. Hope this helps 🙂
How new were your potatoes? Gnocchi is best with older potatoes that are past their prime because they’re more dry, and lost some of their water weight. Super fresh potatoes are honestly not as good. One trick I use is to spread the riced potatoes out on a sheet pan and put it in a “keep warm” oven for 20 mins or so to help dry them out.
The other trick that sometimes triggers purists is to have some potato flakes on hand to dry the mix out instead of adding more flour, which makes them gummy.
I hate this comment section. 45-minutes is way too long to boil potatoes for this, the end. (Think it meant 15 minutes)
Boil them, bake them, new potatoes, old potatoes, more flour, less flour, it doesn’t matter. Gnocchi is simple in ingredients but very technique based. One of those things you need to make a lot until you figure out what it needs to feel and look like. Don’t take one suggestion too much to heart here, just make it more often and watch some videos so you can see what the right texture should look like
Took a cooking class in Rome and was taught 300g of boiled potato (cooled), 300g Tipo 00, 1 egg. Very predictable, very unfussy.
Prior to that, I tried all sorts of recipes, none super predictable.