Ricing Potatoes Hot for Light Dumplings

A potato dumpling lives or dies on how the potato is handled. Bake the potatoes whole in their skins until completely tender, then rice the hot flesh through a potato ricer or food mill straight onto a clean surface — never a food processor or blender, whose blades work the starch into glue. Ricing while hot keeps the starch granules separate and the texture airy; letting the potato cool first, or mashing it, encourages a dense, gummy result. Spread the riced potato out for a moment to let excess moisture escape, then bring the dough together with the lightest possible hand, adding only enough flour to make it just cohere. Every extra turn of mixing and every extra spoonful of flour makes the finished dumpling heavier, so stop the instant it holds together.