Preheat an oven to 180c/350f

Place the potatoes on a baking sheet and do nothing to them. Once the oven is preheated, bake for 70 minutes or until very fork tender.

Carefully cut the potatoes in half to aid the release of any steam as they cool, and when cool enough to handle scoop the flesh out from the skins into a bowl set on scales so you measure what the cooked weight of the potatoes are.

If using a semi-starchy potato, measure 1/4 of the potato weight of tipo 00 flour (e.g. if your cooked potatoes weigh 800g, measure 200g tipo 00 flour). If you are using a very starchy potato, consider adding up to 1/3 of the potato weight in tipo 00 flour.

Pass the potatoes through a ricer and spread out on your work surface – a wooden board is great if you have one as it’ll continue to absorb extra moisture from the potatoes.

Sprinkle over the flour and use a bench scraper to cut it into the potato. Continue to do this around all sides until you have a crumbly, sand-like mix.

Start bringing the crumbly potato dough together with your hands as gently as possible so as not to overwork the gluten – it doesn’t need to be perfectly smooth like a pasta dough – and we certainly don’t want to knead the dough.

Once you have formed a ball, divide this into 8 equal parts and roll each out to a long and thick sausage – again, make sure to use a gentle touch.

Dust in flour and use a knife to cut thumb-sized pieces.

Dust in more flour and gently toss the gnocchi around to coat evenly.

Set aside on a baking tray lined with a clean tea towel or lightly dusted with flour until ready for use.

Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a gentle boil (this is important) – and cook the gnocchi in small batches. Keep your eye on them for as soon as they float, they are done. Use a slotted spoon to collect floating gnocchi and transfer them directly to your chosen sauce.