Has anyone heard of or used the terracotta bread pan made by Henry Watson?  My aunt recently bought one for me, but I haven't tried it out yet.  What's the difference between using a metal pan and one made of terracotta?  Do I have to adjust baking times or anything?

-kilter

I decided after a few sensible, somewhat alarmist, posts here on TFL that i would not buy unglazed flooring tiles (terracotta, saltillo, etc) for use in my oven. There are too many health concerns involved with the manufacturing and raw material differences between flooring tiles and bakeware. Any cause for concern should not be ignored. It's likely that flooring tiles could be perfectly fine to bake with. On the other hand, maybe not.

It helps that I'm getting a good amount of money back after taxes, which I decided to spend on a baking stone and other baking equipment. And to keep track of what I could get, I'm putting together this list:

Sur La Table, (Best Manufacturers) $42, 14x16x5/8

Old Stone, (via Amazon) firebrick, $29.95, 14x16x?

Breadtopia, Fibrament, $51, 13x17.5x3/4, $69, 15x20x3/4

Ace Mart, American Metalcraft, Corderite, $44, 14x16x1/2

Central Restaurant, Fibrament, $58.49, 15x20x3/4

i never thought i'd see the day that sur la table looked like an economic option!