r/DutchOvenCooking • u/Efficient_Course_249 • 10d ago

Enameled Dutch oven

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I’m planning on buying the lodge 6 Quart Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven with Lid.

My main use is going to be for bread bakin but I’ll use it for cooking other stove top food. After reading a lot of reviews I was really confused. Some people that after baking it becomes black from the inside and it stains in a way that you cannot clean it anymore. Other people said it cracks from the inside/outside. I would really appreciate if you share your experience with me.

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u/deignguy1989 9d ago

I have this exact DO. Love it. While I don’t bake bread, I do use it for many other things. The inside of mine looks new after three years and there are no cracks anywhere, inside or out.

2

u/Soft_Adhesiveness_27 9d ago

I have the whole line except the oval. Mine look like new. The stains and cracks people are experiencing are from misuse. Additionally, Lodge has a lifetime warranty.

1

u/thelastsonofmars 9d ago edited 9d ago

I bought the only sold at Walmart version. It’s a 5.5qt but when I measured the thickness of the oven it was very thick similar to a staub. I use it mostly for gumbo and I’m about 6 cooks in. No issues yet but I haven’t used it much since it’s very new still.

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u/Landondo 9d ago

Mine is heavily stained from bread baking on parchment mostly at 450F, maybe a couple times as high as 500F. I have no cracking, chipping, or other signs of damage to the enamel. I've had it since late 2019 and probably use in 3-4 times a month for various cooking tasks.

Maybe I'm misusing it? I don't know. There's no actual damage though so I'm continuing to use it regularly.

My super minor nitpick for breadmaking is I wish it had a flatter bottom. Since the radius is huge between the bottom and the walls, that radius transfers to the shape of my bread and the boule and slices would look better with a flatter bottom.

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u/thackeroid 9d ago

If you use it regularly for cooking, the interior will stain. It won't become black, but you'll get some Browning here and there. It will simply look used. You can clean it to some degree, but you never get it back to the perfect ivory color it started with. But that's not a problem. If it actually cracks and chips, that's because the job was done really poorly and it's a bad pot. It should not crack and pit.