Description of dough, dough preparation and flour used

Due to its origins in Italy, the tortellini uses the dough common to most other pastas in Italy, which is egg pasta dough. The main flour used for the tortellini is soft wheat flour, although variations, such as corn flour have been described. To make the egg pasta dough (about a ¾ pound), start by pouring 1½ cups of unsifted all-purpose wheat flour into a bowl or in a pile on a board. Next, make a well in the middle of the flour and put one egg, another egg white and a tablespoon of olive oil and salt inside it.  Mix this mound together until the dough can be collected into a ball and press all the remaining flour into this ball. “The dough for tortellini, or for any other stuffed pasta you may want to make, must be freshly rolled out and still moist and very soft, otherwise it won’t seal tightly.” (Hazan, 173) In order to prepare the dough for use, hand-roll it or use a rolling pin to create a thin sheet. Then, trim one edge of the sheet so it is perfectly straight. If using machine dough, cut and stuff only one band of dough at a time to preserve the texture. Furthermore, some manufacturers make different color of dough for the tortellini by adding such things as tomatoes or spinach.