Steve,
I use a large roasting pan, set flat on the bottom of the oven (I
guess this is hard to do if your oven has an electric heating element
exposed on the bottom....). My pan is something in the neighborhood
of 12 x 18 inches and is around 2 1/2 inches deep. When baking the
sour rye (I've posted the recipe previously), I put an inch or so of
hot tap water in the pan and put it in the oven when I turn it on to
preheat. By the time the bread is ready to bake, the water is
boiling. This, along with the glaze put on the loaves, gives a lovely
dark, hard crust.
Fred