Hey, Mama, if it ain't broke, no need to fix it. I was just asking.
Yes, Cathy, you can put a pan of water under the bread. Some bakers, such as Peter Reinhart, go that route. The idea is to heat the pan as the oven preheats, then pour-in a cup of water when you put the dough in, creating a burst of steam.
He usually combines that technique with spritzing the oven (rather than the bread).
Dan Leader recommends the ice-cubes in the pre-heated pan. His idea is that every time you open the oven to spritz you are lowering the temperature radically. With the ice-cubes you don't have to keep opening the door. Plus there's a safety issue. One drip on the glass door and you could be in the market for a new stove---or worse.
All of these techniques, and others, are meant as ways the home baker can replicate the injected-steam systems available on commercial ovens. And it's that steam that helps create a crisp crust.
If you care about the science behind it, first understand that a crust is formed by the caremalization of natural sugars (themselves a byproduct of the fermentation process). Steam (or any moisture) helps promote the formation of a sugar slurry on the surface of the dough.
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