Beth in Colo. says ...

Hi sue I saw your post and it sounded like such a good idea then i was over at the bread forum and this nice gal Beth had a post about the same thing!! I didn't no quite understand hers so I e-mailed her and asked more, I'm sure she would not mind me posting it here for you. The part aobut the baskets is the part that confussed me she just uses them as a "form".
page<><

Dear Page,

I'm sorry my piece on the bread bowls was a little confusing. Sometimes
I just get going with long sentences, trying to describe something,
and it doesn't come out in a very organized way.

okay -
1) Yes, these are small round loaves (8 oz, should bake up to about
6" diameter x 2.5" or so high). To serve them, take a slice off
the top, hollow out and fill with a filling that has already been heated
up. (it will take too long to heat the filling inside the bread bowl).

2) Before serving, to get a nice crisp, "crusty" crust, I heat the bread
bowls (either before or after filling them). I pat a little water all over
the outside and put it in a 350 degree oven for 10 - 15 minutes. They
could also
be used unheated.

3) I use bowls or baskets which are about 5" - 5-1/2" in diameter
and 2-1/2" - 3" deep, ones with as straight sides as possible (not
your normal cereal bowl which flares out from the bottom to the top,
but sides that come up straight). A lot of Easter stuff is coming into
the stores now, so it might be fairly easy to find baskets of that
size. My favorite basket is one that came with a floral arrangement,
with sides that come up nice and straight (most baskets flare out at
least a little). I also have larger baskets for larger round loaves.

4) I line the bowls/baskets with a cotton napkin dusted with flour
or cornmeal. I round up the small loaves and put them in the bowls/baskets
to rise, covered with a damp cloth. I put them in top side down, with
the seam side to the top of the bowl, so that when I turn it out to
bake it, the top side will be up. When fully risen, I turn them out
onto a peel or cookie sheet dusted with cornmeal, slash them, glaze
them with an egg wash (1 egg white whisked with 1/2 c. water), slide
them off of the peel onto the bricks, and bake. I let them cool before
serving.

5) Oven bricks. I posted something to "David" on the Forum yesterday
re. oven bricks. I use regular bricks in my oven (instead of a pizza
stone) to create a hearth. These are about 6" long x 3" wide x 1"
thick. I have enough to cover just about a whole rack. I place the
rack 1 rung below center, which puts my baking surface at just about
the center of the oven (the bricks bring the baking surface up a little
higher than the rack). The ONLY problem I've had is that the rack
is EXTREMELY heavy with all the bricks on it and is hard to pull out
and push in. It gives me that "hearth" style bread for making free-form
loaves. I mist the oven 2 - 3 times in the first 5 - 10 minutes of
baking, also, for that nice crust. These are regular bricks, nothing
special about them.

I hope this explains it better! It's pretty simple - I just make small
round free-form loaves by
1) rising in bowls/baskets lined with a flour-dusted cloth
2) turn out onto a peel, slash, glaze & bake free-form loaves
3) cool, hollow out, fill, heat & serve

Thanks for writing, Page. It was good to hear from you. Let me know
if you have more questions, what seems clear to one person often doesn't
exactly translate to another person, so feel free to write if more
questions. Glad to know that you're around!

Beth