This is my first post on the forum after reading some weeks and while I'm an experienced cook, I've only recently started baking and I was hoping for some good advice.

A few weeks ago I walked into an italian bakery nearby and picked up probabbly the best prosciutto loaf I've ever enjoyed. It had soft and chewy crumb with a buttery but flakey crust, with chunks proscuitto, sharp provolone and coarse ground black pepper, it was just amazing. Since then I've been on a mission to duplicate this bread at home and I've made a few great attempts but I'm not there quite yet, There is a photo of the latest rendition below; (sry for the cell phone quality photo)

In anycase, originally my crumb was coming out too hearty. It wasn't the soft, fullfy, and chewy texture I was looking for, but after getting the rise right, it's coming together.

So I havet two questions;

1) I can't seem to get the flaky crust right, the bread I'm emulating had a crust that practically peeled off with some bites and I am not sure of how to produce such a crust, does anyone have any idea's.

2) To get the rise I'm looking for; I've found it's best not to disturb the bread at all after it's risen and was wondering if anyone has even risen on a perforated metal sheet, then placed the entire sheet onto a stone for even heat distrobution, and if that really would make a difference, I'm trying to avoid using a pizza peel for this bread as it's very heavy but also delicate.

Any advice would be appreciated.