I am going to try your suggestions. It is not mandatory bake the bread in a covered container, just easy. I have found that hot steam at the beginning, either by spritzing the bread before you put it in the oven or by putting a small amount of water into a hot pre-heated pie pan placed on the bottom shelf of the oven works well. The hot moist air at the beginning helps create an "oven spring" which is a sudden & rapid increase in the volume of a dough during the first few minutes of baking. This is important, but if you want your bread to be really crusty, it should bake in a moisture free environment for the last 10 minutes or so which can be accomplished by either removing the pan with the water (careful - very hot!), or talking the top off the skillet/container/cloche. For extra crispy crust, let it sit in the oven, heat off, with the door cracked open for an additional 5-8 minutes. For super extra crispy crust, remove completely from the container and let it sit direcly on the rack for 5-8 additional minutes, oven door cracked open, heat turned off.

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