If you want to make potato dumplings, making them with cooked potatoes with extra starch and eggs to hold them together is easier than fiddling with the “raw” kind, at least at first. There are many recipes for “Kartoffelkloesse” and this one is known as “Baumwollene Kloesse,” which can be from southern Germany or Thueringia area.
Old-fashioned comfort food, they are often served with the Sunday roast and then rewarmed with the leftover gravy on Monday.
Makes 15 – 20 dumplings
Step One
Note: While some people have remarked that this recipe is not for a true, Bavarian dumpling, it is important to understand that it is a traditional, dumpling recipe, even though it calls for cooked potatoes only. "Kloesse" or Dumplings made with half raw, grated potatoes, are called "Rohe Kloesse," and are also very good to eat, although different in consistency than "gekochte Kartoffelkloesse" or "Baumwollenekloesse."
Step Two
Brown bread crumbs in 4 tablespoons butter. Remove from pan, add the other 2 tablespoons butter and brown the bread cubes. Drain both on paper towels.
Step Three
Place the riced potatoes in a large bowl. In a small bowl, mix the flour, farina, 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, nutmeg and pepper. Add the mix in three or more portions to the potatoes, beating after each addition. Add eggs and mix well. If mixture is too thin to hold together in a ball, add flour a little at a time to mixture.
Step Four
Bring 4 quarts of water and remaining salt to a boil in a 6-8 quart pot.
Step Five
Wet your hands and shape each dumpling into a 2 inch ball. Press a hole into the center of the ball, place 2-3 croutons into it and reform the ball around the croutons.
Step Six
Drop all of the dumplings into the boiling water and stir gently, so they don’t stick to each other. Reduce heat and simmer for 12-15 minutes, or until dumplings rise to the surface. Cook for 1 additional minute. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a preheated platter. Sprinkle with toasted bread crumbs and serve immediately.