Good product, poor packaging

I purchased the La Cloche specifically for baking bread. After reading the reviews of this product on Amazon.com, I learned that most who ordered the La Cloche received it broken. My assumption was that Amazon was not doing a good job at packaging the product for shipping. This is what prompted me to order from Cooking.com, my hope being I would receive it not only at a slightly lower price but also not broken.

The La Cloche arrived in a secure box with good packaging but it was broken. I attributed this to the manafacturing packaging and not Cooking.com. I was sent a replacment ASAP which arrived in good condition.

There are literally 20 + reviews on Amazon of people who ordered this and recived it broken, not once, not twice but many going on three times. Let the manufacturer know they need to change their packaging to avoide irritating thier customers.

The top is great, the bottom will break

I still recommend this, but you have know you're buying it for the top only. The bottom pan will break, so get yourself a separate pizza stone to substitute for the bottom (and then use that for pizza and cookies too). I just use my old pizza stone, which I prefer anyway to that stupid pan 'cuz it's easier to slide the loaf onto it with a baker's peel. I think my old stone might be the Bialetti square, but there's no markings on it to be sure of that anymore. That combined with this bell top has been doing great, cooking a loaf of killer spelt sourdough every week now for more than eight months. I have not tried any other products like this to compare, but haven't seen any others like it out there to try.

The upper bell on this oven is thick and sturdy. It has even stood up to a quick air-cooling outside the oven rather than letting it cool slowly inside the oven like you're supposed to do. It makes for great rustic breads in a conventional oven because it holds in the moisture, and you don't have to spritz your loaf every 5 minutes or have a professional oven with steam jets.

My first one arrived with a shattered bottom pan. Cooking.com promptly sent a replacement that had different manufacturer's packaging than the first one, plus they added more padding in the outer box. After three or four uses, however, the bottom pan cracked in the oven anyway. The pan is thinner than the top, and it looks like we've all had this same problem here, so don't count on the bottom lasting for you. If yours arrives with broken bottom but top intact, just save your time and skip asking for a replacement.

La Cloche pans rock!

If you are looking for artisan results in your home oven the La Cloche is the way to go. No fuss, no muss. The more they are used the better they get!

I love the results I get from baking bread in the La Cloche. I bought one several years ago, but when the base broke after a few uses, I regretfully returned it. The vendor was no longer carrying it, so I couldn't get a replacement. When I decided to check it out again, I noticed from the reviews that others had had a similar problem. I finally managed to find Sassafras online and wrote asking them about this problem. They sent me a replacement base! There I was with the base, but no

Great Bread Baker

Based on reviews of others, I fully expected at least one of the two I ordered would be broken (base is fragile). However, both were received in perfect condition. I have used other clay bakers, mainly the elongated versions, with terrific success in bread baking. This round version is no different. It bakes a round loaf with results similar to what you would find in a tradition Italian bakery.
I use the round version for sourdough bread.

I highly recommend this item.

Easy to use and keep clean. The bread crust was wonderfully crisp and the insides stayed moist and luscious.
The down side is that this thing takes a lot of storage space!

Works as advertised with reservations

This product definitely produces the crusty artisan-style loaf as advertised. However, I returned my first order due to cracks in the base. The base on the replacement order cracked shortly after it arrived. I used it anyway and the cracks don't seem to affect the function of the oven. (See Amazon.com for many other similar comments.)

Great bread oven

Mine arrived intact in a well-packed double carton. I love this thing! It makes bread with a wonderfully crisp crust that I have never been able to achieve before. I haven't bought store bread since it got here. I've been using the recipe provided with the cloche.

Love that crusty bread

I like the way the oven works, it puts a nice crust on the bread. Have been having trouble with the bread recipe that comes with it though. I would have liked a few more recipe options and a trouble shooting section.

best piece of equipment a home baker could ever own if one wants to make artisan bread.

Great Product

This was a replacement for the identical item we have had for several years. My wife dropped a pot on the lid and broke it, so I ordered a new one. We have found that it is an ideal item for cooking everything from vegetables to meats in the oven. I believe it would be great for baking bread in the oven also. I highly recommend it.

The La Cloche makes bread like you would not believe !

I bake home made sourdough breads and this oven works great.

The 3 pound round loaf fits well.
It simulates very well the classical stone/brick oven, used by many European bakeries.

as alan scott said in his book about baking bread and building ovens the results in using this device are unblievable. it produces a real artisan loaf of bread that cannot be duplicated in anything other than a masonry oven

exceptional producyt

I bought this to bake my bread. After using this to make rustic Italian bread, it was amazing.
It is a exceptional product with very reasonable price.
I recommend this producty to everyone who loves to bake breads.

I just baked a sourdough in the La Couche and I am going to like this for bread. I have wanted the crunchy crust and this is doing just that.
I am so glad I bought it!!
I lost my husband a year and a half ago and so I do not cook for myself everyday, but I do have company over and that gives me a reason to go all out, because I have always loved to cook...
Thanks for making a great product!

Fast shipping, quality merchandise, weould recommend.

Lives up to expectations!

All the information already reported about this oven is true! My sourdough bread is the best it's been!

Very enjoyable for sourdough.

Was what I expected and am happy the way the bread tourned out.

retirement is having fun

I am a little handicaped and retired, have 5 kids 14 grandkids so I have always cooked and everyone says my food is good, so I started reading about italian breads and there you go. I bake about 5 loaves a week now. all kinds. I have my daughter take some to work and the girls go crazy. it get a little pricey but who cares. my daughter-in-law found a loaf of peppers and cheese at a farmers market and said my was better, there you go again what can I say. I just wished I'd bought this product years ago. happy shopper. would like to buy another, but can't afford at this time. nancy