A question about a recipe: Italian Style Boule

I think this bread would be fantastic shaped into thin baguettes, to use for making Cuban sandwiches. The crust and crumb, especially the latter when made with potato water, seem ideal. I'm going to make my next batch using ricotta whey. I'm sure that at that point, it should not be called "Italian," but whatever you want to call it, I am certain it will be outstanding. ;o)

It's great news that this created such good loaves for you. I suspect your sons are extremely popular, what with the monthly bounty they receive from you. I am grateful to know that someone else thinks home-made bread belongs in a college care package. I'm not surprised that you had to add quite a bit more flour with the potato, but the method you followed is very interesting. Thank you for pursuing this interesting avenue and sharing it.

Reporting back on this . . . the potato water gave this bread a luxurious, almost creamy-textured crumb. The crust is still light, crisp and flavorful. I added about 3/4 cup of leftover mashed potato to loaves made using 1/2 of the preferment. I had to add a lot more flour, and even then the dough was very wet. I partially baked those loaves, to an internal temperature of 200, then took them out, cooled and froze them. They are positively gorgeous. Having made this recipe twice in 8 days, and with both sons away at college, we have a lot of bread here! It holds really well, though. It will be a while before I take the par-baked loaves with potato out and finish baking them. I'll let you know how they turn out. Oh, one other thing. Because the bread keeps so well, I intend to send a few loaves to each of my sons, from the freezer directly into the packing box, to be shipped priority mail, for them to enjoy. I send them home baked goodies, my homemade jam and now, homemade granola, interesting spices and teas, etc. every month. The next set of packages will have a few loaves of this in them! ;o)

Yes! I think it sounds lovely. I wouldn't change anything else, and I'd love to hear how it turns out.