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Potato Gocchi

post #1 of 22
5/29/07 at 6:30pm
Thread Starter 
We make potato gnocchis, but they are pretty chewy n dense. We roast the potatoes in a salamander(we dont have an oven) or steam in in the microwave. Cool in n mash it, adding the refined flour. I guess the more flour you use the heavier it becomes...so the recipe we use is round about this.....800-900 gm potatoes, 200 gm flour, no water/eggs, seasoning.g
I am at wits end trying to find a way making the gnocchi lightern fluffier....
Looking forward for some advice....
Japvir
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post #2 of 22
5/29/07 at 6:47pm
What type of facility do you have?
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post #3 of 22
5/30/07 at 5:38am
If roasting in the sally, wrap in foil, and cook slow and low. try adding 1 yolk and 1 whole egg, maybe add a little shredded parmesan. are you using a potato ricer, they make the potato nice and smooth.
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post #4 of 22
5/31/07 at 7:51am
Well, I reckon there is no set recipe for good potato gnocchi.
I usually start with about 10 idaho potatoes and boil them skin
on. When they are cooked, about 45 minutes boiling, I quickly
scrap the skin off with the back of a knife and food mill them onto
a sheet tray, being careful not to mash them down. You want them
to come off the mill and stay uncompacted, nice and light. When they
are about room temperature, drizzle a little evoo, maybe a couple of
TSP's. Maybe about 2 or 3 whole eggs. Kosher salt to taste, and about
1.5 to 2 cups of OO flour. Gently mix it all together with your hands and
kneed it for about 30 seconds. Begin rolling it out in logs, just like playdo,
from the inside out. Test a couple by dropping them in boiling water. If they
are real soft, add a little more OO flour. You can tray em and freeze em or
cook them fresh. The more delicate they are the harder they are to work
with. In a restaurant you may want to freeze them or blanch them. Good
gnocchi are hard to beat. Fresh tomato sauce and a little ricotta salade.
I boil the potatoes with skin on to keep the starch intact and the water out.
I find it works better than roasting, but, that's one mans opinion.
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post #5 of 22
5/31/07 at 6:40pm
Ditto what even stephen said. Very important to keep the skin intact on the potatoes - don't want the potatoes waterlogged and starch escaping
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post #6 of 22
6/6/07 at 3:51pm
i would agreee with those that say boil the potatoes in there skin and mash them while the potato is still hot too stop the potato becoming to starchy, but having just work with an italian chef and seen the way he makes gnocchi, i have done it the same way ever since, do not mix all the ingredients until the potato puree is cold, then when you make the gnocchi make sure to freeze them and always place them into boiling salted water from frozen, and when the gnocchi's float there ready to be served hot straight away or refreshed and saute at a later date.

hope this helps
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post #7 of 22
6/6/07 at 10:04pm
All of these are great suggestions for making your gnocchi, but I think most people have really not emphasized enough the use of egg to help lighten your gnocchi. I always use egg in mine and though they are dense they are not overly heavy or chewy. Also very important to making gnocchi right right consistency is milling your potatoes when hot, but not mixing the dough until completely cold. Again this has been said before, but I think these things need to emphasized to create perfect gnocchis.
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post #8 of 22
6/7/07 at 7:15am
Also, do not mix for along time after adding the flour, that will make them very tough. Mix the egg into the potatoes, then add the flour.
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post #9 of 22
6/14/07 at 8:59pm
O.K., I've got to disagree with the boiling of the pots, roasting w/ a little oil and salt(whole), removes excess moisture from the pots, I'll agree w/ milling, I prefer the potato ricer, but whichever, so long as the pots are hot. Then I micro-plane some nice parm into them after cooling to just above R.T., then before they get cold and stiff, I add the eggs, then fold in the flour, I prefer "00" pasta flour, salt, and white pepper. Finally, I agree that the dough should not be over worked as any dough gets tough when overworked. My gnocchi are always stable enough to take a good saute while remaining light and delicate inside.
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post #10 of 22
6/14/07 at 11:15pm
If you cook the potatos in the micro they will get a gummy texture to them. Like everyone else is saying, bake your taters and use a ricer to give them a fluffy texture.
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post #11 of 22
6/15/07 at 6:37am
I just watched Julia Child's "The French Chef" dvd last night....two great episodes on potatoes.
What variety spuds?
She steams them so they'll stay intact.
What about piping the dough?
cooking with all your senses.....
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post #12 of 22
6/15/07 at 7:11am
This is an interesting thread as I've rarely had good gnocchi. It's been gluey, heavy, doughy. I like the idea of gnocchi, just not the execution.

Is it bad form to ask if anyone uses baking powder? I can imagine puffy pillows of dough but I've yet to meet them.

Cheers
Pat
Pat

The floggings will continue until morale improves

http://www.cookingdownunder.comhttp://cookingdownunderblog.blogspot.com/
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post #13 of 22
6/15/07 at 4:20pm
Gnocchi' are one of those things like good bread. Climate atmosphere humidity all seem to have an impact on the final product . They are very temperamental and rarely come out the same way twice. What I've always heard was boil then bake til no steam comes off them. Nice and dry through the ricer. Personally I use egg & cheese to bind. But they still are hit or miss. It's a hand feel thing more than it is amounts and measures.
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post #14 of 22
6/16/07 at 11:53pm
the variety of potatoes has got to matter, well and I guess their moisture content, that would vary with the water level in the soil.....but it would seem the variety has more to do with it. thoughts?

duck eggs are not only more rich but have better viscosity, I'll bet they would lighten a gnocchi dough......piping would also decrease flour content.....hmmmmm......
side by side comparisons make sense.
cooking with all your senses.....
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post #15 of 22
6/17/07 at 10:35am
shroomgirl,
The moisture of the potatoes does play a part, but I suspect the starch content of the potatoes is the big factor. That's what makes them a potato product or just a lump of dough.
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post #16 of 22
6/18/07 at 8:47am
Yeah, I am a fan of yukon gold potatoes for most applications, but when doing gnocchi, it is russets all the way. The starch is necessary, and the key to keeping them light in my opinion is to not overwork them once the flour has been added. All the other tips people are saying are right on the money, though I never knew of the strict importance of letting the potatoes cool all the way before working with them. My darned impatience always had me adding ingredients just as they were "cool enough" to work with, and so that the egg would not "cook" as soon as I added it to the hot potato mush.

So I learned something as well, and will let my riced potatoes spend more time in the walk-in before I proceed in the future!

Oh, and another tip - when you are making them, have a pot f slated boiling water going. Make 2 or three, and then test them out in the water. Sure, you have not frozen them, so this is not "ideal", but it will give you a sense if you have added enough flour, or overworked them or seasoned them properly and so forth. Basically, if there is an error in your batch, you can rectify it as you go instead of churning out a whole batch and THEN realizing you messed up.
Deglazed
My Continuing Journey Into the Kitchen...
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post #17 of 22
6/19/07 at 8:05am
Shroom,
You want a little flour. I prefer a little flour and semolina. You need some
thing to lube them up, so to speak. At home and in your nicer restaurants,
you don't freeze them so you need that extra flour and semolina to soak up
any moisture. If not, they would stick to the sheet tray. Idaho potatoes are
the best. Anything will work though. The water content in the soil won't
change the water level in the potatoe substantially. The potato just won't
grow as big........
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post #18 of 22
6/24/07 at 7:16pm
Roasting is the only way in our kithcen. Then once out of the oven they are poked with many holes set on a speed rack in the walk-in to release as much steam as possible. When just cool enough to handle we slide the skins off and pass through a food mill right on a sheet pan so we spread it out. Then when completely cool, egg yolks and flour until just together. I've found leaving the egg whites out reduces the wateryness and lets us use less flour. If the potatoes are cooked properly, nice and dry, texture will not be a problem. The roots of this dish are fire roasted potatoes which have a completely different texture than boiled potatoes.
Keep those fires burnin'
 
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post #19 of 22
6/24/07 at 7:58pm
I am imagining a stuffed amphibian :D Doesn't take much to amuse the uneducated ones, I guess,
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post #20 of 22
9/19/07 at 2:23am

Still learning how...

Still getting the "art" down. It's tougher than it seems for sure.

Usually use baked Idaho potatos left over from the night before. I hate food waste. Baked untill done, then set in a 200 degree oven for about 5 hours. Poke holes and leave them uncovered overnight in the cooler. Sometimes for 2 days.

Have been using 2 eggs for about 10 potatos. Flour.. well, it's added to the right consistency. I add flour untill I can work with the dough without needing gloves. Usually roll them on a good bit of flour too, depending on the dough.

Tried 3 eggs and too much flour, and it bore a striking resemblance to knoephla. Ho hum.

But usually I just act busy so Chef will make them, or at least the dough. Failing that I usually make the prep cook roll them out. I hate making Gnocchi.

Ordered a box from US foodservice.. haven't even tried one yet. Really have no real desire to, just saving them for the day Chef and I are too busy to make more gnocchi. Kind of dread that day, though part of me doubts it will ever come.

Has anyone tried it?
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post #21 of 22
9/19/07 at 9:18pm
so many ways,..

Gnocchi was a serious point of contention in my kitchen for a while. I leared in Italy, from an chef in Tuscany, and when I came back , with my McGee in hand, I set out to make a fool proof system for my cooks
we are verry happy with the result and system:
Here's what we got:
First boil the potatoes, starting in cold water and over a low flame, skins on -this insures the potatoes cook evenly and do not overcook.
I use Yukons

as soon as they are done, skin them and run through the food mill while they are hot and spread out on a sheet pan -This lets extra water escape as steem and keeps your potatoes light and dry.

They must be completely cold when you ad your eggs and flour, mix just until it comes together -warm potatoes promote gluten bonds and make your gnocchi dense and heavy.

then hand roll

we use
4 eggs for each kg of potatoes and 400g 00 flour
ciao
mike
nel maiale, tutto e buono!
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post #22 of 22
9/22/07 at 8:23pm

Tried foodservice gnocchi...

Depsite any amount of cooking, there is still a lingering flavor of raw flour, and an undetectable bitterness. Horrible, and from what I hear they're quite expensive.

Don't know what I was thinking ordering gnocchi from a mass producer of food.
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