First of all - good choice !

If you have a baking stone you don't need the base that came with LaCloche. I get the best results by placing LaCloche in the oven when I pre-heat the baking stone (let LaCloche overlapp on one edge so the heat can get under). Take LaCloche out, steam, place the loaf on the baking stone (Superpeel!) and place LaCloche over the loaf.Use LaCloche for the first 12-25 minutes, depending on the size and hydration of the loaf. Once you removed LaCloche keep the door cracked open about 3-5 mm. You are in absolut control of the browning and 'crunch' of the crust.

The ovenspring this tool and procedures give you is superb - therefore I never bothered to soak LaCloche. I have also two Italian 'LaCloches' or 'bakers'. Those work equally great for longer and narraow batards.

Personally I wish they'd make a larger, oblong Cloche but the existing ones work a charm.

BROTKUNST

Hi, I love my LaCloches and use them often. I have the long baker one and it is shown here: PAGNOTTA 3 ways and a NYT SEMOLINA    Notice I baked the bread on parchment. What I do is form the loaf and let it rise on parchment in a oblong basket. Meanwhile I let the LaCloche get hot in the oven as it preheats. When the dough is risen I pick it up by the parchment and carefully put it into the hot baker. Put the lid on and bake about 25 min. Remove lid and finish baking. A couple of people on this site gave me the idea and it works great. I also preheat my round baker. I never use water and never let the dough rise on the cold clay baker. The bread has so much moisture that the clay doesn't need to be wet.  
Hope this helps. Enjoy your La Cloche.                                                                            weavershouse

Thank you all for the input. I am definitly looking forward to getting my la cloche. It has been on my list for a long time. Weavershouse, do you ever have problems with the parchment sticking? I seem to recall reading somewhere that it might. Also, it sure does seem that spinning/weaving and bread baking go together. I don't spin but weave on a 6 1/2 ft Navajo style verticle loom that I built. It must be something about working with your hands and creating.....Thanks again! -Scott

I'm so glad to meet another weaver. I never tried a Navajo loom but always thought they were so interesting. And you built your own, that's neat.
As far as the parchment goes I've never had it stick to anything and I really don't think you have to worry about it doing that. It would stick to the wet dough somewhat but not after baking. I wish there was a place to buy parchment at a better price. I try to reuse it but after just a couple of uses it gets too brittle and has to go. I wonder what it's made of...but then again, maybe I don't want to know. :) weavershouse

I don't know how much you're spending, but I use a brand called If You Care that sells in my co-op for $3.65 for a 70 sq ft roll. It's unbleached, and uses silicon for a coating, instead of quilon. That's it's big selling point, as being environmentally friendly. Not being a chemist, I have no idea what quilon is, but the paper works really well, and I can generally use a sheet 2 or 3 times before it gets really brittle or burns.

edh

I Googled If You Care Parchment Paper and found that Amazon has it but is currently out of stock. Price for 5 is $14.73. That's a great deal. Thanks so much for the info. I will keep checking back with Amazon if I can't find another source. I like that it's environmentally friendly. Thank so much.                                                                                                        weavershouse

For dough in the 60-65% hydration range I spray water around the dough, onto the paper just before I load the dough onto the stone. Then when I place the La Cloche bell or 4L bowl over the dough there is a little added moisture in the bell for the first minutes of covered baking. Don't do this after the dough is loaded or you will risk cracking the stone. Works for me!

Eric

Another great source for parchment is www.surfasonline.com.  They sell pre-cut sheets in pack of 250 for $13.50.  They used to have packs of 100 for around $5.95 but I guess they discontinued that.

is there any danger with large sheets of parchment catching on fire?  i tend to use silpain the non stick mats.   they are totally non stick and can tolerate very high oven temperatures.   

I went to the local restaurant supply last year and got a box of full sheet pan size parchment sheets that I then cut in half. The 1000 sheet pack was around $30 and I haven't even began to put a dent in the box yet and I use then for everything.........even the grandkids drawing! I usually just grab a stack out of the end of the box, fold it in half then just slide an old knife thru the center of the fold. I don't like the parchment on the rolls because it seems to always want to curl up on me as my hands are full.

Scott,

here is an example how you can control the crust with La Cloche - both loaves come from the same batch. Both are bake under a pre-heated Cloche (500F) with brief steaming before conveying the loaf into the oven.

The darker loaf was bake at 500F all the way to the end - 18 min with La Cloche, 8 min without. The darkening of the crust developed in the last 8 minutes.

The lighter loaf was baked at 450F - 20 min with La Cloche and 8 min without.

(After removing the Cloche I kept the door cracked open to finish baking in a a dry environment.)

BROTKUNST