I hereby declare my husband the master baker-- at least of savory things-- of our home. He makes a fantastic pizza crust, better cheese straws than I do....

And while I was distracted by no-knead bread (or rather, the science), M forged ahead in his loyalty to Julia Child, and love of Dorie Greenspan, and made the basic french bread from Baking with Julia

Fantastic, and perfect. To be very very clear, I think 95% of the credit goes to the cook.

But also think that some of the credit has to go to our 1940's Wedgewood stove. It gets hotter than a conventional, modern stove, and hence our AWESOME pizza crust. And yesterday I think we figured out what the bottom right drawer (below the main baking compartment) is for: steam. I can't verify this from a quick search, but the compartment is definitely not a broiler (no open flame) or storage drawer (lots of heat from the two pilot lights). Thanks to this compartment (we put a cast iron pan there while the oven warmed, then added water, and then added more water as the bread cooked) we were able to get a VERY steamy oven, and excellent crust.

Thanks honey!