Pasta thickness

[pacman1978]

So I am sat here watching Masterchef professionals and they complained about how someones pasta is too thick. How can you make pasta too thick? Given you just keep turning the dial to make it thinner and thinner till the lowest setting how is this possible and especially for a professional? I'm more interested because I might be missing a trick to make my pasta thinner!

Thanks,

Paul

[radtek]

Perhaps the cook didn't dial it down as far as possible. Sometimes I'll stop on the 2 or3 (1=thinnest) because of wanting a thicker noodle.

It's a preference thing IMO.

[Chris Hennes]

I almost never actually take my pasta all the way to the thinnest setting, so there is certainly no rule that says you have to: presumably it was just a preference for thinner pasta on the part of the taster.

[ChrisZ]

Filled pasta can definitely be too thick. I like making ravioli etc but I learned quickly that I need to have the dough thinner than I think, because it swells up when cooked. The filling can easily be lost if the outer pasta wrapper is too thick or chewy. I'm a big fan of filled pasta but I'm disappointed if I can't taste the filling.

But I have no problem with thick, plain pasta. I especially like lasagne where the noodles have a texture and flavour that's a significant part of the dish, and not just the white bit between oceans of sauce.