Breads baked in professional ovens are often placed directly on heavy stones to create a crisp, brown crust. You can do the same in your oven by using a bread stone, pizza stone or unglazed baking tiles available in cookware shops. Let the stone heat in the oven for at least 20 to 30 minutes. (Don’t place a cold stone in a hot oven because it may crack; new stones may need to be seasoned by heating at a low temperature once or twice before using it at high temperatures--check the directions that came with your stone.)
Sprinkle cornmeal over the stone. Carefully slide the unbaked loaf--just the dough, not dough in a bread pan--directly onto the hot stone by sliding it from a cookie sheet or using a baker’s wooden paddle called a pelle. After baking, the stone will be very hot; let it cool in the oven before moving it.
From "Betty Crocker's Complete Cookbook, Everything You Need to Know to Cook Today, 9th Edition." Text Copyright 2000 General Mills, Inc. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.