I dig that aggressive crust. Hot temp?
I bake the loaf in a 500F preheated (1 hour) cast iron dutch oven for the first 20-25 minutes and then pull the lid off for the last 20 minutes or so while also dropping the temp to 450F. Without a fancy professional baking oven with water injection/steam control, the closed dutch oven provides the initial high humidity environment which helps the crust development.
We're working the same recipe, but I drop it to 375F when I pull the lid. That's a great bread base, I've put garlic and cheese in, beer, whatever. I'm not a baker, but it's hard to f up. I'm going to try that hot finish.
