Pasta | Pasta is unleavened dough, made of wheat flour, water, and sometimes eggs, that is molded into any of a variety of shapes and boiled. Pastas are products made essentially from milled cereals and water. In the West, good quality pasta is made from a hard wheat variety, durum wheat, which has a high protein (and thus gluten) content and is low in starch. It can also be made from soft wheat flour, a mixture of hard and soft wheat, buckwheat flour, rice flour or, less often, corn flour. Small quantities of soy or mung bean flour, vegetables (spinach, tomatoes, beets, carrots), gluten, whey, eggs, flavors, fresh herbs, spices and colors can be added. Some pasta can be colored using a coloring agent rather than a vegetable purée. "Egg" pasta is made with soft wheat flour. In some countries, pasta is enriched with B-complex vitamins (thiamine, riboflavin and niacin) and sometimes iron. Protein and fiber-enriched pastas are also available.
