Has anyone made this recipe? The amount of water seems excessive.

Thank you for the replies. I ended up using the proportions from the Carol Field's version and that worked out well for me (made 2 loaves). I don't mind wet doughs, either, and the breads turned out very well. Thank you!

Hi! In my experience, this works just fine, it is a somewhat soft dough but perfectly kneadable (as you can see in the photographs). I personally love wet doughs and have no problem handling them, in fact, in my experience with Italian breads it's quite common. In the article I wrote to accompany this recipe, mrslarkin (who many probably know) commented that she made this recipe from Carol Field's book last week (coincidentally, as my recipe/article was only posted this week) and she found it too wet to handle. She notes the flour she used and how she resolved it here: https://food52.com/blog/18800-meet-the-bread-that-s-half-raisins-half-flour Hope that helps (and thank you Nancy!)

Haven't made it.
But
•Yes, this is unusual amt of water;
•recipe is accurate (compared Emiko version to original);
•Emiko recipes are usually good;
•ditto Carol Field recipes;
•Her headnote says this is an unusual bread.

Based on all this, I would go ahead and make it as written.