The goal of making homemade gnocchi is light, pillowy clouds of starchy goodness, but too often they end up as heavy, chewy blobs of dough. That’s because gnocchi is one of those recipes with a deceptively small amount of components, meaning that every ingredient counts. If you’ve struggled with gnocchi in the past, the first ingredient to question is the choice of flour. While it’s certainly possible to make decent gnocchi with regular all-purpose (AP) flour, you’ll have much better luck with Italian 00 flour made from durum wheat, which has a much finer texture.
It might be somewhat new to the U.S. food scene, but 00 flour has been a staple in Italian cooking for hundreds of years. It’s without a doubt the best flour for making pasta, and while gnocchi doesn’t technically count as pasta (it’s more like a dumpling), the finely-ground flour has a similar consistency to cake flour that will make every piece light and fluffy.
How 00 flour is different
In the U.S., flour is categorized by how much protein it contains. Cake flour has the least (7% to 8%) and bread flour (especially the whole wheat kind) has the most (up to 15%). AP is in the middle (9% to 12%). This is important in baking recipes because the more protein there is in the flour, the more gluten it creates, thus the stronger the dough. In Italy, flour is categorized by the size of the grind, which ranges from 00 to 2, with 00 being the finest and 2 the coarsest. Despite its soft texture, most 00 flour sold in the US has around 11% protein depending on the manufacturer. This is perfect for pasta, because it creates a light texture, but there’s still enough protein to create a pleasant chewiness.
Because 00 flour has a similar protein content to AP flour, it’s easy to experiment with an existing gnocchi recipe just by swapping the 00 for the AP. Most large supermarkets carry 00 flour, and it’s also sold at food co-ops and specialty stores that carry Italian ingredients. Look for 00 flours with a similar protein range as AP flour, which will give your gnocchi enough structure to stand up to boiling and sauce. Don’t rely solely on the soft texture of 00 flour to save your gnocchi, however. The more you work the dough, the more gluten you create, and the denser and chewier the gnocchi become.
