Hi Rosemary, it sounds like you got a cloche bread baker, which is another great baking vessel! Depending on the manufacturer of your pot you may not want to preheat it empty (we don't recommend this type of use with our cloche), but you can still get great results with a cold start or putting the cloche with boule into a preheated oven. Just remember to take the lid off about halfway through the bake. I like to use sprayed parchment paper on the bottom of my cloche, to prevent sticking. If you're working with a very wet dough you may find that allowing the shaped boule to rise in a well-floured brotform or a bowl lined with a well-floured cloth will help prevent the loaf from spreading out too much during the final rise, since the cloche bottom is wider and won't support the dough as much as a Dutch oven will. Gently transfer your risen loaf to the cloche right before baking. 

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