Authentic Handmade Gnocchi Recipe

Done right, homemade gnocchi are a melt-in-your-mouth dream. So what’s the secret to soft, pillowy Italian gnocchi?

Bake the potatoes, don’t boil them. Boiling the potatoes will cause them to absorb water, requiring you to add more flour when making the dough. This will cause the gnocchi to be tough.
Don’t knead the dough. Unlike fresh pasta, which requires 5 - 10 minutes of kneading, you want as much air as possible in the gnocchi dough. When making gnocchi dough, you’ll want to combine the flour and egg as gently as possible to ovoid pushing out too much air.
Use a ricer or food mill to mash your potatoes. To get your potatoes as soft as possible, using a ricer or food mill to mash them, as opposed to a fork will make a huge difference when it comes to the consistency of your final gnocchi.
Add a little flour as possible. There are many factors that will impact how much flour you’ll need to use: the weather, the humidity, the amount of potatoes you’re using. The aim of the game is to add the least amount of flour to achieve a smooth dough ball, so adding the flour gradually and adapting the amount based on your conditions will give you the best result.

Ingredients

Seves 4

900g russet potatoes (Up to 100g more, or less, is fine depending on the size of the potatoes) or regular brushed potatoes
1 egg
1 cup ‘00’ flour
Extra flour to work with while rolling the gnocchi
Salt

Method

Place your potatoes, skin on, on a tray. Poke a few holes in them with a fork, and bake at 180 C for 1 hour. The potatoes will be done when you can piece them all the way through with a knife without any resistance.
When the potatoes are ready, take them out of the oven and let them cool for a few minutes. Slice them in half with a knife.
Holding a tea towel in one hand to protect it from the heat, hold a halved potato and scoop out the potato flesh into a bowl. Repeat until you’ve done so for all the potatoes.
While the potato flesh is still hot, run it though a ricer or food mill to soften it and remove lumps, and add to a new bowl. If you don’t have either of these, a fork or grater will still work.
Once the potato is cool, add a generous amount of salt and make a well in the middle of the bowl. Crack the egg into the well.
Add about 1/5th of the flour, and fold in gently with a wooden spoon. Continue, adding a little flour at a time, until the mixture starts to loosely form a ball.
Flour your bench and take the dough out of the bowl. Knead lightly, until it comes together as a smooth ball. This is the stage where you don’t want to over-knead, to avoid pushing too much air out of the dough.
Cut your dough into 8 pieces. Take a piece, cover it in flour, and roll it out into a 1cm thick roll. Using a knife, chop the thin, gnocchi dough into 1cm wide pieces. They should look like little pillows.
Have a floured plate or tray ready nearby. Sprinkle a little more flour over your gnocchi pillows. Take a pillow and roll it into a round ball. Place it on your plate and press down lightly with your your finger. Continue, ensuring that the gnocchi don’t touch.
- Note: You can either skip the “rolling into a ball” step completely, or use a fork or gnocchi board to create a different shape for the finished gnocchi. It won’t change the taste, so it’s personal preference.
If you’re not cooking the gnocchi straight away, I prefer to put them in the freezer will will make them much easier to handle later. If you’re doing this, put baking paper down into a lasagne or lidded Pyrex tray, add a layer of gnocchi, and repeat. Putting them into the fridge is also fine for up to 2 days.
If you’re ready to cook them, start boiling a pot of water. When the water starts to boil. and salt and a splash of olive oil. Place each gnocchi individually into the pot, stirring occasionally to ensure they don’t stick to the bottom.
When the gnocchi are ready they’ll float to the top. To remove them you’ll need to use a skimmer, as they’ll be too delicate to be poured into a strainer.
Serve with a simple tomato sauce or place them in a pan and fry with butter and sage.