Wickelkloesse

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Potato ricer
• •Wide shallow pot
• •Floured board and rolling pin
• •Slotted spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the potatoes

   Boil the potatoes in their skins until a knife slides through, about 25 minutes depending on size. Keep the skins on while they cook because peeled potatoes drink water, and wet potato asks for too much flour later. Drain, peel while hot, and rice them straight onto a wide tray.

2. 2

   Cool the mash

   Spread the riced potato thin and leave it until completely cool, at least 30 minutes. This is not waiting for decoration. Hot potato cooks the egg and weeps starch, so the dough turns gluey and the spiral smears instead of cutting clean.

3. 3

   Toast the crumbs

   Melt the butter in a small pan and stir in the breadcrumbs. Cook them over medium heat until they smell nutty and turn pale gold, then take them off before they darken. Breadcrumbs keep browning in hot butter, and burnt crumbs will sit in the middle of every slice. Let them cool.

4. 4

   Make the dough

   Mix the cool potato with the flour, egg, salt, and nutmeg just until it comes together. Work lightly and stop when the dough holds; kneading wakes the starch and makes it elastic, which is good for bread and bad for Kloesse, dumplings.

5. 5

   Roll and fill

   Dust the board well and roll the dough into a rectangle about 30 by 22cm and 1cm thick. Scatter the cooled buttered crumbs evenly over the surface, leaving a clean 2cm strip at one long edge. Roll from the opposite long edge into a firm log; the clean strip seals the seam without pushing crumbs into the join.

6. 6

   Slice the pinwheels

   Use a floured knife to cut the log into 8 thick slices. Press each slice lightly at the seam so it stays closed, but don't flatten the spiral. A tight roll holds in the water; a crushed one cooks dense and heavy.

7. 7

   Poach gently

   Bring a wide pot of salted water to a boil, then lower it until the water only trembles. Slide in the Wickelkloesse and poach 12 to 15 minutes, until they float and feel set when lifted with a slotted spoon. A hard boil tears the potato dough before the starch firms. Runter mit der Temperatur.

8. 8

   Serve with sauce

   Lift the dumplings out and let them drain for a minute on a warm plate. Finish with chives if you use them, and serve with roast gravy, mushroom sauce, braised cabbage, or sauerkraut. Nicht aus dem Glas: these dumplings were made to catch a real pan sauce.

Chef Tips

• •Use floury potatoes, the kind that fall apart when boiled. Waxy potatoes make a rubbery dough, and no amount of flour fixes the wrong potato.
• •Make the breadcrumbs from stale rolls if you have them. Fresh crumbs clump in butter; dry crumbs toast clean and give the spiral its bite.
• •Cook one test slice first. If it frays badly, dust the cut sides of the rest with a little flour and lower the heat. The water should move like a quiet pond, not a laundry pot.

Advance Preparation

• •Boil, peel, and rice the potatoes up to 1 day ahead; spread them on a tray, cover once cool, and refrigerate. Cold potato makes the dough easier to handle.
• •Toast the breadcrumbs up to 2 days ahead and keep them covered at room temperature.
• •The formed slices can wait on a floured tray in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Longer than that, the salt pulls moisture from the potato and the dough softens.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 285g)