Hi, thanks for this post! This really helped clarify some of my questions about steam. I've been wrestling with steaming techniques for some time, and the only one I've had consistently good results with is baking my loaves in a cast iron pot, following the methods in Ken Forkish's great book Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast. I have a couple of questions: Do you have any experience with the Foreneau Bread Oven https://www.fourneauoven.com/) , which you place inside your kitchen oven? I tried baking baguettes last weekend for the first time, and used your method number 2 (though I hadn't read this post yet, it's described in Hamelman's book (Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes). They rose really well, but the crusts were quite soft and light colored. I baked them on a cookie sheet with parchment, not on a stone. I'm wondering if baking them on a stone would have made a difference, and if perhaps leaving them in the oven longer would have helped. The internal temp of the loaves was about 206° when I removed them from the oven.

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