Why do the Gnocchi get sticky

gnocchipotatoes

I am having trouble getting my gnocchi to behave properly. I nailed the recipe a few years ago but haven't made any in between and now they turn out sticky after cooking.
The dough behaves wonderfully. During cooking the gnocchi come to the surface as usual, I take them out, drop them in some sage butter and that's where they all stick together as one lump.

This is my method:

  • Bake potatoes
  • Peel while very warm
  • Rice
  • Add 10% flour (I also tried 20%, 25% and 30% – no change, 30% only made the dough fall apart)
  • Add salt and nutmeg
  • Knead gently
  • Roll, cut, shape ridges
  • Cook in boiling water

There is no egg in my recipe. Back then I did not use any and I have had plenty of amazing gnocchi without egg and in my experience egg tends to make gnocchi rather chewy.

I am aiming for a very light texture with just the right bite on the outside, as though there was an extremely thin skin on the outside.

That's actually almost what I get before cooking the gnocchi. What I am getting after cooking are very soft and sticky gnocchi with good flavour but they just don't have the right texture.

The dough in this recipe is a pleasure to work with. I am using waxy potatoes because the dough from starchy ones just falls apart.
Maybe that is the key to my problem: We had an extremely dry summer in Europe and potatoes do not behave as usual – I keep hearing that from my potato farmer as well as chefs.

Can you explain why this happens?

Best Answer

I made gnocchi for 2 years at restaurant... in those two years i observed to following things about making gnocchi.

  1. the type of potato Changed the ratio of flour, and egg if using egg. As i am living in the Southern Arizona. I settled on using the Classic 1 lbs Russet Potato.
  2. the size of the potato and how long and at what temperature you bake it... I have tried everything from purple fingerling potatoes to Sweet potato. they key i found was to try and cook them in a way that they released as much moisture as possible... I settled on baking my potato whole at 425 degrees F, lightly oiled, for 45 minutes in a convection oven on High Fan. when they were done, i would cut them in half for ricing and let them cool for 10-15 minutes, this would allow for the potatoes to release a lot of steam/moisture.
  3. Getting my ratios right...I tried everything under the sun....i settled on a 1:1:1 ratio i found in an old Italian cook book... that would be 1 lbs riced potato, 1 egg yolk, and 1 cup flour....I did use rice flour on occasion if there was a gluten free customer...they were a little weird but not to bad. The key was not to mix more than you had to.
  4. cooking/storage... as i was producing 50 portions 1 per week. I would toss the portions lightly in flour then freeze in deli containers, then boil off and toss in a pan sage butter similar to what you do. I seamed to work... as we had 8 different line cooks who mad this meal sometime there would be circumstances like your where they would stick together into a Gnoccho...Large Lump... i found this was mainly because they did not change out the water they were being cooked in... or the water was too salty, boiling temp lowers when salt is added. any way... hope this helped....
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