I must admit to not being too convinced about not kneading for non-soda bread. That won't give usable stretched gluten and it just seems odd. And the higher the hydration rate the more benefit there is from working the dough imho.

The dutch oven method is discussed on some of the bread sites - it normally involves throwing some water in - the idea being that the dutch oven just provides less of a volume for you to trap steam ie more intense steam per cubuc centimetre of oven. It shouldn't be necessary to go to that palaver and trying to boil water in the oven seems pointless.

75 - 80% hydration is what I always use for any French style breads and many others particularly when using a poolish starter. In other words a 100/100 poolish added to a 100/50 mix the following day gives 75% - so it's an easy ritual to remember and get into just making the whole mass bigger or smaller depending on how many baguettes I want that day.

That's why you may want to try the iron griddle method I suggested. I struggled with all of the methods I read about and found them all to have their defects. The steak iron griddle was one of those middle of the night ideas. The iron produces intense heat and the griddle ridges produces lots of surface. It also has the advantage that the griddle sits permanently on the base of the oven and you don't need to find storage for dutch ovens. I'm suprised I haven't read anyone else thinking of it.

With that method the griddle gets very hot and you put the bread in then throw a small amount of water on the griddle ridges and that produces so much instant steam it is sometimes hard to close the oven door. The art is a relatively small amount of water and just for 5 to 10 minutes. Too much water or for too long tends to just produce a thick chewy crust. I also place the loaves on semolina and then on the perforated baguette trays or sheets. A controlled initial burst of intense steam sort of injects the bread surface - followed by a dry hot oven produces crispness. I do all my baguettes this way and always also give them a spray of water before putting them in the oven.