I have just started baking bread in earnest, and have used only glass loaf pans.  Is there any advantage to clay?  How do you prepare a clay pan for bread? How would you clean it?  Are there any problems using them that would be great to know beforehand?

I would probably go for metal before clay.  Bread needs strong heat from below when first put into the oven (as well as steam) in order to get good oven spring, and the clay or ceramic would be slow to heat up.  I would think it would produce cool temps from the bottom of the loaf while allowing the top crust to set, which is the exact opposite of what one hopes to achieve.

A larger clay pot with a lid is a different story, as you preheat it in the oven and then put a freeform loaf in it to bake.  But there is space around the loaf, so that it is like a mini-oven that bakes evenly and holds in steam.

Hope that helps.

Thanks! Having only ever worked with glass, I am very curious.