Love this blog! I'm anxious to try this bread. My mom loves crusty sourdough, which I make for her on occasion, but it is so time consuming. This sounds easy. I think I will give this a try, adding some of my sourdough starter (as suggested by R Hart). I'll report back on the results from the addition of sourdough starter. When I first began experimenting with baking breads with a crunchy crust, mostly sourdough, I read about baking cloches. I did not especially want another baking tool to store, and a cloche is a major purchase, cost wise. So I began thinking, "what do I have that would produce the same result?" I already had a large pizza stone which would work for the bottom. I also have a large, oven proof Pyrex mixing bowl. I used that for the lid, misting the inside of the bowl with water before placing over the loaf (I preheated the stone, but not the bowl). The bowl was removed during the last 15 minutes of baking; I covered the loaf lightly with foil to prevent over-browning. This produced a very crisp, crunchy crust. Problems I encountered with this method: 1. The bowl is quite difficult to remove since it doesn't have a handle as the cloche lid does.(two Ov-Gloves made it easier). 2. The loaf spread more than it probably would have in the cloche (the bottom of the cloche is smaller and has sides). 3. The bread stuck where it touched the bowl. When I tried removing the bowl, I had to pry it loose and the crust tore (greasing the inside of the bowl along the top edge might prevent this). I compared this method to baking uncovered with a pan of water under the loaf. The covered loaf was slightly crustier, with larger holes (this could have been due to some other factor as the two loaves were not made from the same dough). The loaf baked uncovered with a pan of water on the rack below produced a chewier, crunchy crust (which I like). Unless I want more crunch, I use the pan of water method, just because of the difficulty of removing the bowl. With a cloche, spreading would not be an issue, but I still don't think I will invest in a cloche when the water method gives me satisfactory results. Perhaps there are other ways to solve the spreading issue? I do not want to use my cast iron Dutch oven as I'm afraid this would damage its "season". I bake cornbread in it, but with plenty of butter. I did not think of baking bread in a covered casserole. I have an oblong Corning ware 2 1/2 qt one. Would this work? I'm concerned about baking in it with little moisture (breakage?). I also have a round stoneware casserole (glazed) but am not willing to experiment with it since it is hand-thrown and cost $50, in 1970! In answer to questions regarding bland loaves because of forgetting to add salt (Rachel from Beloit and others), I have a no-knead recipe that relies on onion and dill for flavor. After baking you rub the crust with butter and sprinkle it with coarse salt. This would soften the crust some, but it would give the missing flavor enhancement. Thanks, Bloggers and KAF, for the great comments. The spreading dough issue is often from 1.) the dough having too much water in it and 2.) from improper shaping. Although this recipe makes a very sticky, wet dough, you can have too much water! I'd dial it back by 1/4 cup and see how the next dough turns out. To keep the crust nice and crisp, just the slashed dough directly with water before you place it in the hot oven and cover it up. As for baking dishes, it would be best to stick with something that is oven-proof and steer clear of the Corning ware and stoneware casserole (lead possibility on that one). I would also advise you to not use the cast iron: in our tests, we found it to burn the breads instead! I hope these tips help! Kim@KAF

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