Homemade Potato Gnocchi (How Italians Make It)

• Potatoes - for perfect gnocchi you need potatoes that have the least amount of moisture. High moisture potatoes will require These are usually mature potatoes with yellow flesh like Yukon gold or Desiree potato. By mature I mean potatoes that are not freshly harvested. Potatoes that are "aged" loose excess moisture. For this reason never use baby potatoes or young potatoes to make gnocchi - they have too much moisture. Yellow fresh potatoes are starchy with less water content compared to potatoes with white flesh.
• Flour - all purpose flour just enough to form the dough, plus more for dusting the work surface.
• Egg - helps bind the dough and give structure to cooked gnocchi. Even though if you're using the right potatoes and bread flour the egg can be omitted.
• Salt - for boiling potatoes and for the dough.

Prepare potatoes

• Start by washing potatoes and putting them in a large pot with cold water. Add salt. Bring potatoes to a boil and cook for 30-40 minutes until tender when poked with a fork.
• Once fork tender, remove potatoes from water immediately and let cool a little bit.
• At this point you can peel off the skin or simply cut off any imperfections, cut in half and later pass through the potato ricer which will hold the skin.

TOP TIP: Choose potatoes more or less of the same size for even cooking.

PAY ATTENTION: don't overcook potatoes and don't poke them often. If potatoes crack or you poke them too often to check they'll absorb water through the broken skin which we need to avoid if we want soft and pillowy gnocchi.

Make gnocchi dough

• Sift about ⅓ of all flour on work surface PLUS set 3 tablespoons aside (that you'll add at the very end if needed or use it to roll the gnocchi).
• Rice potatoes placing them cut side down (if you've decided to keep the skin on), force the potato through and remove the skin from the potato ricer.

• Using a dough scraper cut riced potatoes to help them cool down further.
• Add beaten egg, and a few pinches of salt. Incorporate briefly with the dough scraper.
• Cover the dough with the remaining flour and "chop" it into a crumbly dough.

• Now, using your hands compact the dough into a ball.
• Don't knead gnocchi dough as you would with pasta or bread dough. Instead help yourself with a dough scraper and simply FOLD the dough onto itself until all flour is incorporated.

• Dust your work surface with flour and cut off a piece of dough.
• Roll a finger-thick rope, approx. ½ inch thick and cut it into ½- ⅔ inch pillows.

Flour wooden gnocchi board. Using your thumb finger, press and roll each pillow over the gnocchi paddle.

• If you don't have gnocchi board handy, use a simple tool you sure have - a fork. Roll on the backside of a fork pressing lightly to form the ridges. You can also leave your gnocchi ridge-free. They'll taste great anyway.
• Once first batch is ready sprinkle it lightly with more flour to prevent from sticking and arrange on a tray.
• Repeat the process with the rest of the dough.
• Cook potato gnocchi within 30 minutes from making or freeze.

EXTRA TIP: line the tray or wooden board with parchment paper if you plan to freeze gnocchi. Parchment paper will help frozen gnocchi slide directly in the freezer bag without you having to fight them to get off the tray.

Cook

Cook gnocchi by dropping them in salted boiling water give a very gentle stir. Use a LARGE pot or cook in smaller batches. Don't worry, gnocchi cook very fast. Once they rise and float to the top they're are ready to drain.

Don't use your classic collander. Use skimmer spoon/strainer to drain gnocchi. This way you'll preserve already hot water and can continue cooking the next batch. Make sure the water comes again to a rolling boil before dropping the next batch.

WHY SO: boiling water helps gnocchi cook quickly without falling apart. If you add too many gnocchi is a small pot, the temperature of the water will drop significantly and by the time it comes again to a boil gnocchi will "melt" in the water. So your goal is to make sure gnocchi cook at the highest temperature possible and cook fast. This is especially important when cooking gnocchi from frozen.

Freeze

Line a tray, a board or a baking sheet with parchment paper and arrange gnocchi in a single layer. Pop in the freezer for 30-40 minutes or until they've become hard. Once frozen transfer to a zip-lock bag. They will keep in the freezer for up to 4 months.

TIP: instead of lining with parchment paper you can dust with flour to prevent gnocchi from sticking to the board.