I Did Everything Wrong

And yet, it’s one of my best-looking loaves. I’m baffled.

Where I went wrong:

• Recipe calls to hold back 40g water. During mixing, I felt it could handle it and added it. Dough went from tough to soupy. I should have known better, all my doughs are too wet – idk if it’s my flour, my Florida climate, or what.

• Recipe calls for 323g potato. I baked about 400g, but haphazard peeling yielded only 250g usable weight.

• I went ahead and added the potato despite overly-wet, weak dough. Proceeded to bulk ferment.

• I extended bulk ferment to double to add more stretch and folds. Dough strengthened somewhat, but remained wet and weak. Certainly no hint of a windowpane.

• Upon pre-shaping, the dough puddled and was completely unshapeable. I desperately added 50g flour to minimal improvement. Frustrated, I added several unmeasured handfuls of flour. Dough went from slack to much too tough.

• I repeated slap-and-fold mixing steps, then added an impromptu 10min rest before pre-shaping.

• I moved onto final shaping after 35min bench rest. Dough remained much too stiff, but it was either press on or discard.

From there, I went by the book, and it came out beautifully. So I guess never quit until it’s baked. Or maybe not – I haven’t cut into it yet.

For reference:

Maurizio Leo’s Potato Rosemary recipe (book version).

645g AP Flour
161g Wheat Flour
250g (post-cooked, peeled weight) potato
621g Water
16g Salt
24g Starter

5hr levain, 30min autolyse, dough hook/stand mixer w/slap and folds to mix. 5 sets stretch and folds. 6hrs bulk ferment (supposed to be 3). 24hr cold proof. Bake 50min @ 450.