A Hearthkit in a $2 lottery is the only way I'd ever buy a one. The product
is, I agree excellently made BUT the prices I've seen range from $200 up
and the improvement in final bread is only slightly better than using
bakestones, a pair of which should be available for around $40. I estimate
that, in terms of final loaf expansion and porosity, bakestones of whatever
sort are responsible for only a few (ca. 2 or 3) percent of quality so the
improvement gained by using complex oven inserts is very expensive and,
IMHO not worth it.
We're straying perilously close to "Dough Improvers" and similar marginally
effective products here.
I think it's relevant to say that careful attention to hydration,
ingredient measurement, technique in frementing , shaping, handling and
slashing the dough, high oven temperatures with quick recovery and steam
generation will all give much more improvement in your bread than an
expensive oven insert. If the dough is inelastic, shaped without skin
tension, incorrectly proofed, clumsily slashed or roughly handled, the
Hearthkit, or any other ceramic baking aid will not compensate.
If you consider this post carpingly critical and negative that's an opinion
I can understand but I have spent the last 35 years learning that the vast
majority of cooking and baking gadgets on the market are wastes of money
and that skill can make most special purpose kitchen tools redundant. You
don't need a garlic press if you spend a little time honing your knife
skills so that crushing and chopping a clove of garlic is a matter of
seconds, quicker than taking the press off the hook. The number of similar
examples any experienced cook can bring to mind is very large. Occam's
Razor says that "Entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity" - the
same principle applies to kitchen paraphenalia.
John