Love, love this baker! It is perfect for making artisan styled loaves with crispy crusts. No need for placing water for steam in the oven, the steam is generated in the baker itself from the dough. I also purchased the Lucky Clover Trading Artisan Collection Slim Proofing Basket to use with this baker. I line the basket with parchment paper, place my dough inside and put the basket in my oven on Proof mode. Once risen, I carefully lift the dough out using the parchment paper and place it directly into the preheated baker and place the lid on top and pop it into the oven. The baker has developed some brown spots on it with use, but these do not affect the bread in any way and are to be expected with use. The included lame works perfectly and allows me to make a beautiful, precise cut in my dough without any tearing or damage to the texture or shape. Just remember to always preheat this baker before use and to allow it to cool slowly and naturally when done. You want to avoid quick temperature changes with this baker. I have not needed to season it in any way and by following the directions for use, have had no issues with bread sticking when removing. I now make my own "Artisan" loaves at home, they taste better and I know the ingredients are fresh and high quality. I recommend this product to any serious bread baker.

I like this baker a lot, mainly for its size. It is large enough to hold a dough made using 4 cups of flour. It also retains heat exceptionally well. But I prefer using it without the lid. I found that when using the lid, the resulting crust is not as crusty as when using a different method.

For those of you who may be interested, this is how I get crustier bread without the lid:

(1) Ahead of time, fill a spray container with water.

(2) Before putting the dough into the oven, use a pasty brush to wipe the dough with water. Be sure to also cut thin slits in the bread. I found a serrated knife works well, but specialty tools are also sold for this purpose.

(3) After putting the bread into the oven, spray water several times inside the oven, over and under the pan. Then close the oven door.

(4) After a few minutes, spray again. If making French bread, repeat this process several times.

For bread that also crusts on the bottom, use a perforated bread pan. These pans have holes on the bottom.

I get much better results using these methods than when using the Superstone lid. However, I like the Superstone bottom a lot. It is a great size for large loafs, and my baking results have been terrific, at least when not using the lid. It would be nice (and probably less expensive) if they sold the bottom separately.

I already had the round cloche but I find the bread slices too wide, so I decided to try the long load one. Made my first loaf yesterday. I followed the bread instructions from the first cloche I got and the load came out beautiful. This loaf slices into more standard size bread slices so it's easier to put in a sandwich baggie or put in a pan for grilled cheese sandwich. I use parchment paper in the baker so it's easier to pull the bread out and let it cool.

I bake boules in a cast iron dutch oven which works great. I wanted something to bake batards. This is the item to have. I leave both the bottom and top in the oven when preheating my oven. I bake at 450 degrees. Just like a pizza stone, you want the Covered Baker to get very hot. After about 1/2 and hour of heating it is ready to use. I score the proofed loaf and carefully set inside the Covered Baker and immediately put on the lid. I bake for 20 minutes covered, and then remove the lid to bake another 10 minutes. Perfect bread every time.

I have been perfecting my bread recipe for a while now and decided to have a go at this baker. My bread is a no-knead dough recipe that requires a top for the first half of the baking, which limits what I can bake my loaves in.

In this loaf pan, my bread came out with a thinner but just as crunchy crust when compared to my other pans that I use (Pyrex and aluminum loaf pans). The result was my absolutely best loaf yet!

I highly recommend this baker. You will not be disappointed. The size and shape are great. If you make bread, but this baker!