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 starch-
gluten matrix remains firm.
Stickiness Noodles stick to each other during
cooking when they’re allowed to rest close to