absorb moisture and provide gluten to hold it together into a formable dough Eggs are sometimes added to provide additional binding and yolky richness, though they also add a springy quality Old potatoes, and mealy rather than waxy varieties, are preferred for their lower water and higher starch contents, which means that less flour is needed to make the dough, so less gluten forms and the dumpling is more tender The potatoes are cooked, peeled, and riced immediately to allow as much moisture as possible to evaporate; then cooled or even chilled, and kneaded into a dough with just as much flour as necessary, usually less than cup/120 gm per lb/500 gm potatoes The dough is formed into a thin rope and cut into small pieces, the pieces shaped, and then boiled in water until they rise to the top of the pot Gnocchi can also be made by replacing the potato with other starchy vegetables or with ricotta cheese Asian Wheat Noodles and Dumplings Two very different families of noodles are made in Asia Starch noodles are described below Asian wheat noodles — Chinese mian — bear some resemblance to European pastas made from bread wheat They’re typically made from low-or moderate-protein flours, and are formed not by extrusion but by sheeting and cutting or by stretching The most spectacular form of noodle production is that of Shanghai’s hand-pulled noodles, la mian, for which the maker starts with a thick rope of dough, swings, twists, and stretches it to arms’ length, brings the ends together to make the one strand into two — and repeats the stretching and folding as many as eleven times to make up to 4,096 thin noodles! Asian noodles are both elastic and soft, their texture created by both their weak gluten and by amylopectin-rich starch granules Salt, usually ... that of Shanghai’s hand-pulled noodles, la mian, for which the maker starts with a thick rope of dough, swings, twists, and stretches it to arms’ length, brings the ends together to make the one strand into two — and repeats... make the one strand into two — and repeats the stretching and folding as many as eleven times to make up to 4,096 thin noodles! Asian noodles are both elastic and soft, their texture created by both their weak gluten and by... made from bread wheat They’re typically made from low-or moderate-protein flours, and are formed not by extrusion but by sheeting and cutting or by stretching The most spectacular form of noodle production is