Baking bread in a cast iron or clay pot is a great way to recreate the hot, moist environment of a professional oven. The super hot pot traps the steam that is naturally generated from the dough, and also encourages the dough to rise rapidly in the oven. This is called "oven spring."
The bread in the photo above was baked in a cast iron pan that was preheated in a 500 degree (F) oven. I've posted lots of bread recipes that use this method so I finally decided to take some photos demonstrating how I do it.
