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1
Cook the floury potatoes in their skins in well-salted boiling water until completely tender, keeping the skins on so that the flesh absorbs as little water as possible and stays dry enough to need minimal flour. Drain and rice them immediately while hot, spreading the riced potato on a clean surface to allow steam to escape. Allow to cool completely — a warm or wet potato mass will force excess flour into the dough and make the dumplings heavy.
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2
Add the egg and salt to the cooled riced potato, then sift in 200 g of the 00 flour and bring the dough together with as few movements as possible, so the dough stays tender rather than tightening under repeated handling. Add the remaining flour in small increments only until the dough barely coheres — it should be soft and slightly tacky but hold its shape when pressed. Overworking or over-flouring produces a tough, dense shell.
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3
Pit each plum cleanly and insert one small sugar cube and one fragment of cinnamon stick into the cavity where the stone was, so the sugar and spice are enclosed at the very heart of the dumpling and perfume the fruit from inside as it cooks. Use plums that are slightly underripe — a fully ripe plum dissolves to jam and floods the dough from within.
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4
This is where the dish lives or dies. Portion the dough into pieces of 50–60 g each, flatten each piece in the palm, set a filled plum at the centre, and wrap the dough up and around the fruit, pressing firmly to seal every join without gaps or thin patches, because any breach in the wall will allow the dumpling to burst open in the boiling water and release the filling. The sealed dumpling should be smooth and round, with no visible seam.
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5
Bring a large pot of salted water to a steady boil and lower the dumplings in gently, so they do not strike the bottom and split before the dough has set. Cook for 8–10 minutes; they are done when they have risen to the surface and floated there for the final few minutes of cooking. Test one by lifting it clear — it should feel set and firm, not soft or yielding under gentle pressure.
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6
While the dumplings cook, melt the butter in a wide pan over medium heat, add the breadcrumbs, and toast, stirring constantly, until the crumbs are uniformly deep golden and smell of toasted grain and butter — stirring without pause prevents the crumbs nearest the pan from scorching while the rest remain pale. Remove from heat and mix in the caster sugar and ground cinnamon.
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7
Lift the cooked dumplings from the water with a slotted spoon and allow to drain briefly so that surface water does not make the breadcrumb coating soggy and grey. Roll each one gently in the cinnamon-sugar breadcrumb mixture until evenly coated on all sides, arrange on warmed plates, drizzle with the remaining melted butter, and serve immediately — the coating should be visibly golden and the butter should glisten on the surface.