It was time to revisit our pumpernickel gnocchi. We were successful in making the gnocchi with the aid of Methocel. Unfortunately, do to the nature of Methocel the gnocchi were reliant on thermal stability which detracted from their all around functionality.
With our continued use of Activa Y-G we felt we might be able to re-work the approach to the pumpernickel gnocchi and create a product which remained true to the term gnocchi while increasing the functional and textural properties. In fact, when making our new gnocchi we were pushed in a slightly different direction than we had planned. Our initial goal was to make a gnocchi base which we could extrude and once it had set, allowing the bond to occur, we would cut the dough into individual pieces, gnoccho. However, when we made the puree of pumpernickel and ricotta a dough developed. We took this result as an opportunity and rolled the dough into logs which we cut into pieces and finally shaped into gnocchi. We let the dough, bound with Activa, rest for eighteen hours in the refrigerator. Once the dough had rested and the bond was fully activated, the gnocchi were ready to heat and serve.
To serve the pumpernickel gnocchi we sauteed them in butter and paired them with a squash blossom puree and a zucchini puree. A few shavings of aged Gruyere seasoned the dish and some nasturtium leaves from our garden added a spicy note to the dish. The gnocchi were crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, a hybrid of gnocchi and just baked bread.
We are looking forward to carrying this technique through the seasons, varying what is paired with the pumpernickel as well as working on other bread dumplings, bound with the combination of Activa and their own gluten.
