Why are my potato gnocchi gummy?

Good gnocchi are soft, almost fluffy pillows that hold their shape in boiling water. Gummy ones are dense, sticky and a bit like chewing an eraser. The ingredients are the same in both cases. The difference is water, flour and handling, and they all feed each other.

It starts with the potato

Choose floury, dry-textured potatoes, the kind that fall apart when boiled and make fluffy mash. Waxy salad potatoes hold their shape beautifully in a potato salad and terribly in gnocchi: they make a dough that is wet and gluey before you have added anything.

Older potatoes tend to be drier than very new ones. If the only potatoes in the shop are new season, expect to work harder at drying them.

Get the water out before the flour goes in

Every drop of water left in the potato will need flour to absorb it. More flour means a heavier, chewier gnocco. So the aim is a dry, fluffy mash.

• Cook them whole, in their skins. Peeled, cut potatoes drink water. Whole ones, boiled or baked, stay drier. Baking them on a tray is the driest route of all.
• Peel while hot and let them steam. Spread the hot potato out on a board or tray for a few minutes. You will see the steam pouring off; that is water you no longer have to fight.
• Rice or sieve, never blend. A ricer or a food mill gives fluffy strands. A blender or food processor works the starch into glue in seconds. A masher is acceptable if you are gentle.

Flour: as little as it will take

There is no single right amount, because potatoes vary. Add flour gradually, a handful at a time, and stop when the dough just holds together and no longer sticks to your hands. It should feel soft and slightly tacky, like a cool earlobe, not firm like bread dough.

Before you shape the whole batch, test one: drop a little piece into simmering salted water. If it holds together and floats, the dough is ready. If it falls apart, add a little more flour. If it holds but tastes heavy, you have already added enough, so stop.

An egg yolk is optional. Some cooks like it for binding, others leave it out for a lighter result. Both camps make good gnocchi.

Handle it like it might bruise

This is where most gummy gnocchi are made. Kneading develops gluten in the flour and works the potato starch, and both make the dough elastic and chewy. Bring it together by folding and pressing, just until it is smooth enough to roll. Then stop.

Roll into ropes, cut into pieces, and leave them as little cushions or roll them over a fork or gnocchi board for grooves. Lay them on a floured tray, not touching.

Cooking them

Use a wide pan of well-salted water at a gentle boil, not a violent one, and cook in batches so the water stays hot. They are ready shortly after they float to the surface. Lift them out with a slotted spoon straight into the sauce or the pan.

Sauces that suit soft gnocchi: butter and sage (see brown butter), a simple tomato sauce, a spoon of pesto loosened with cooking water. Heavy, thick sauces drown them.

Can gummy gnocchi be rescued?

Partly. Dense gnocchi improve a lot if you pan-fry them after boiling, in butter or olive oil, until golden on the outside. The crust gives them a different texture to admire. That trick also works on packet gnocchi, which we have nothing against at all; shop-bought gnocchi has more.