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I just made my first gnocchi today, and the few recipes i looked into said to let them boil until they float. My problem is, they all started floating almost immediately, basically as soon as they soaked in the water a bit. I can't figure out why, did I add too much flour? Did I get the water too hot? I'm genuinely stumped.

Once they were in the water, a few didn't sink at all and just stayed at the top, and after ~30s all of them were floating.

I followed Internet Shaquilles recipe on youtube ("Gnocchi Isn't Pasta. (It's Way Easier)").

Rough paraphrase of the relevant part of the video:

2 russet potatoes
Salt and pepper
1 egg
Up to 1 cup flour

  • Use Chef Mike[ahem, sorry] Microwave potatoes until thoroughly cooked and soft; while still hot, rice them onto a floured surface. Let cool.
  • Make a well in the potatoes and add salt, pepper, and the egg. Use a fork to whisk the egg a bit, then combine everything.
  • Add just enough flour to make a formable dough. Do not overwork.
  • Divide the dough into 4 pieces, then roll each piece into a snake. Cut into gnocchi-sized pieces. If desired, use a fork to add ridges.
  • Cook in salted water until they rise to the top.
    [The video then goes on to give instructions for a brown butter and sage sauce, but that's not relevant to this question.]
Marti
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Max
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1 Answers1

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Quick cooking is more likely to be due to too little flour than too much. Other than that, you might have had particularly airy potatoes, or your ricing method introduced a lot of air, or the way you kneaded the dough resulted in particularly light gnocchi, or you cut them very small... we have no way to tell. More to the point, it doesn't matter.

The "cook until they rise to the surface" guideline is just that: a guideline, not something set in stone. If you think 30 seconds isn't long enough to cook gnocchi, all you need to do is, drum roll please, cook them longer. As long as you don't boil them until they completely fall apart, your gnocchi will be perfectly fine if you keep cooking them after they've risen to the surface.

Marti
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