Cinnamon Butter Gnocchi: Recipe from Veneto (2024)

FAQs

What is the best flour for gnocchi? ›

Plus, it has too much protein: High-protein wheat results in chewy gnocchi. If you want to be true to Italian gnocchi, look for imported Italian flour marked "00 tenero," which is milled from soft wheat with a low protein content.

Egg yolk added to your gnocchi dough helps improve texture, and keep it together while cooking. Gnocchi is traditionally made with eggs in Veneto and no eggs in Piedmont, the two Northern Italian regions famous for gnocchi. We vote for egg yolks at the rate of 1 per (500g) 1 lb of uncooked potatoes used.

Yukon Gold Potatoes are THE BEST potatoes for homemade gnocchi. They're dense, creamy, semi-waxy and do not retain too much moisture (if you love Yukon's for mashed potatoes, they make exquisite gnocchi).

The secret to the lightest, most tender potato gnocchi is to bake the potatoes instead of boiling them. A baked potato is dryer than one that has been boiled, which means you avoid having to add more flour to the dough to account for excess moisture, a practice that leads to over-kneaded, tough gnocchi.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, then turn down to a simmer, and tip in half the gnocchi. Stir, then wait for them to rise to the surface. Count slowly to 10, then remove with a slotted spoon, and tip into whatever sauce you're using.

A classic choice for saucing gnocchi is a simple combination of butter and sage, but the possibilities are endless. Simpler sauces like pesto, marinara and vodka are good choices, as are heartier sauces like Bolognese, cheese and cream sauces.

Nutritional Value

Believe it or not, regular pasta is actually more carb-heavy than gnocchi, coming in at around 2 times the amount of carbs per serving. Gnocchi is also notorious for having a lot more sodium, with over 200 grams of it per serving. Regular pasta doesn't have nearly as high of a sodium content.

The word gnocchi may be derived from the Italian word nocchio, meaning a knot in wood, or from nocca, meaning knuckle. It has been a traditional type of Italian pasta since Roman times. It was introduced by the Roman legions during the expansion of the empire into the countries of the European continent.

For gnocchi with a fluffy texture, don't knead the dough past the point where the flour is fully incorporated into the potatoes. Think large lemon size when you tear off a piece of dough to roll out. Move the palms of your hands back and forth to roll the torn-off portion into a long rope.

Gnocchi is made primarily from potatoes which are less fattening than pasta. It also has more fiber and fewer calories than traditional pasta dishes. It also contains fewer carbohydrates, which can help people who are trying to lose weight or prevent diabetes.

Why does my gnocchi fall apart when I cook it? ›

If the gnocchi fall apart or appear to be fraying at the edges, it can mean one of two things: You let them cook for too long or, even worse, you didn't combine the potato and flour into true dough. In the latter case, it's back to square one.

Your gnocchi may be mushy because of any or all of the following reasons: boiled the potatoes instead of baked them. used waxy new potatoes with too much moisture in them. not used eggs to help texture.

Usually, when we prepare gnocchi at home, we just serve the gnocchi and some kind of sauce. It may be a sage brown butter sauce or a pesto or maybe a very simple tomato sauce. The less heavy and complex the sauce the better.

Tapioca flour: Also called tapioca starch. Alternatively, use arrowroot flour or cornstarch, though I've had the best results with tapioca.

What is the best flour for making gnocchi? I always suggest using 00 double zero flour. For most Italian dishes, this soft-wheat flour creates a delicate texture that's easy to bite through. Double zero is perfect for the light, pillowy texture you want for gnocchi.

There are different types of 00 flour, depending on whether you want to use it for making pasta or pizza dough. The main difference between these flours is gluten content, as pasta-making requires a slightly lower gluten flour than pizza. They will usually be clearly labelled as '00 pasta flour' or '00 pizza flour'.

Best Overall: Antimo Caputo Pizzeria Flour Blue Tipo 00

Antimo Caputo is one of the “approved suppliers” by the True Neapolitan Pizza Association (AVPN). While Antimo Caputo makes several types of flours, they are best-known for their Tipo 00 pizza flours.

Most “00” flour that we see in the United States is ground from durum wheat and has a mid-range protein content of about 11 to 12%, similar to all-purpose white flour.