center 40–60% (somewhat moister than freshly baked bread) Pasta is sometimes cooked just short of this point and then finished in the sauce that will dress it Cooking Water It’s generally recommended that pasta be cooked in 10 or more times its weight of vigorously boiling water (around quarts or liters water per pound/500 gm) This allows for the pasta’s absorption of 1.6–1.8 times its weight, and leaves plenty to dilute the starch that escapes during cooking, and to separate the noodles from each other so that they cook evenly and without sticking Hard water — water that is alkaline and contains calcium and magnesium ions — increases both cooking losses and stickiness in noodles (it probably weakens the protein-starch film at the noodle surface, and the ions act as a glue to bond noodle surfaces to each other) Most city tap water has been made alkaline to reduce pipe corrosion, so pasta cooking water can often be improved by adding some form of acid (lemon juice, cream of tartar, citric acid) to adjust the pH to a slightly acidic 6 Cooking pasta Left: Uncooked pasta dough consists of raw starch granules embedded in a matrix of gluten protein Right: When pasta is cooked in water, starch granules at and near the noodle surface absorb water, swell, soften, and release some dissolved starch into the cooking water In pasta done al dente, hot water has penetrated to the center of the noodle, but the starch granules there have absorbed relatively little, and the starchgluten matrix remains firm Stickiness Noodles stick to each other during cooking when they’re allowed to rest close to ...can often be improved by adding some form of acid (lemon juice, cream of tartar, citric acid) to adjust the pH to a slightly acidic 6 Cooking pasta Left: Uncooked pasta dough consists of raw starch granules embedded in a... the cooking water In pasta done al dente, hot water has penetrated to the center of the noodle, but the starch granules there have absorbed relatively little, and the starchgluten matrix remains firm... consists of raw starch granules embedded in a matrix of gluten protein Right: When pasta is cooked in water, starch granules at and near the noodle surface absorb water, swell, soften, and release some dissolved starch into the cooking