Thuringian Potato Dumplings (Thüringer Klöße)
Thüringer Klöße Say it: TEW-ring-er KLUR-suh
Thüringer Klöße are the great dumplings of central Germany: large, pale, faintly speckled balls of grated raw potato and mashed cooked potato, each hiding a pocket of golden fried bread cubes. They are the Sunday and holiday companion to roast pork, goose or venison in Thuringia, and they taste mild and potato-sweet, springy at the edge and meltingly soft inside, with the buttery crunch of the croutons right in the middle. Making them is a labour of love, but a rewarding one.
Thuringian Potato Dumplings (Thüringer Klöße)
Thüringer Klöße
Pronounced TEW-ring-er KLUR-suh
- Serves
- 4
- Prep
- 45 min
- Cook
- 35 min
- Total
- 1 hr 20 min
- Level
- Medium
Also nut-free.
Allergens: contains gluten, milk, egg. Check labels on packaged ingredients.
Ingredients
Amounts are scaled. Cooking times and pan sizes stay the same.
Dumplings
Filling
Method
Boil the cooking potatoes whole and unpeeled in salted water for 20–25 minutes, until a knife slides in with no resistance. Drain, peel them while still hot, then press through a potato ricer or mash very smooth and spread out on a plate to cool.
Melt the butter in a wide pan over medium heat and fry the bread cubes, tossing often, for 4–5 minutes until golden brown and crisp on all sides. Tip them onto paper towels.
Peel the raw potatoes and grate them finely — a food processor grater blade works well — dropping them straight into a bowl of cold water so they stay white.
Drain the grated potato through a fine sieve lined with a clean cotton cloth or cheesecloth, gather the cloth and squeeze hard over a bowl until almost no more liquid runs out. Let the squeezed liquid stand for 10 minutes, then pour off the water and keep the white starch left at the bottom of the bowl.
In a large bowl combine the squeezed raw potato, the cooled mashed potato, the egg, salt, nutmeg and the reserved potato starch. Knead with your hands for 2–3 minutes to a smooth, slightly tacky dough; if it feels wet and loose, work in potato starch 1 tablespoon at a time.
Bring a wide pot of salted water to a bare simmer — small bubbles, no rolling boil — and drop in a walnut-sized test dumpling. If it holds together after 3 minutes, the mixture is right.
With damp hands, shape the dough into 12 balls about 2 1/2 inches (6 cm) across. Poke a deep hole in each with your thumb, tuck in 3–4 fried bread cubes, then close the dough around them and roll smooth between your palms.
Slide the dumplings into the simmering water in batches so the pot is not crowded. Simmer gently, uncovered, for 15–20 minutes; they are done when they float, look puffed and a thin skewer inserted in the side comes out clean.
Lift the dumplings out with a slotted spoon and let them drain for a moment in a colander before serving. Keep finished batches warm in a low oven while the rest cook.
Regional variant: Halbseidene Klöße (half-silk dumplings)
Use equal weights raw and cooked potato — 1 lb (450 g) of each — and leave out the egg and the bread filling. The higher share of cooked potato gives a softer, silkier dumpling that is shaped a little smaller, simmered for just 12–15 minutes and served in broth or with a mushroom cream sauce.
Cook's notes
- Squeeze the raw potatoes as dry as you can — leftover water is the main reason dumplings break apart in the pot.
- Never let the water boil hard; a gentle simmer keeps the dumplings whole and lets them cook through evenly.
- Always cook one small test dumpling first so you can adjust with starch before shaping the whole batch.
Serve with
Roast pork, goose or venison with red cabbage and a dark gravy, or a mushroom cream sauce; a cold beer or a dry Riesling.
Make ahead and storage
Shaped dumplings can rest at room temperature for 30 minutes before cooking. Leftover cooked dumplings are sliced the next day and fried in butter until crisp.
