5QT Dutch oven

This seems like a well made pot. The casting seems good, no mold marks or imperfections. It was pre-seasoned but I still washed, oiled it and brought it up to temp for over an hour. It did not smell or have any gunk burn off. The lid seems to fit tightly. I use it to bake sourdough, it works well. I like that it’s rated well over 500 degrees.

Love love love this Dutch oven! Easy to use, booklet tells you how to clean it. No sticky mess. Size works great for our family and for storage. Weight ideal. Would give as a gift!

I actually own 3 other Dutch Ovens. A HUGE one that was my Grandmother's, a regular one that belonged to my Mother and another regular one that I bought 20 years ago. This pot is absolutely the same quality as those. I bough this Dutch Oven just to bake my Sourdough in. I grew up on a ranch on the Mexican-Arizona-California border. I probably ate more meals cooked in cast iron over a fire by the time I was 25 than most people would experience in their whole lives! But for those of you new to cast iron, there is maintenance you absolutely need to do. First-Heat your outdoor propane grill to as high as it goes. Using a paper towel, lightly coat the entire pot and lid, inside and out with shortening. Place it on your grill and close the lid. Let it "cook" for 30 minutes. Remove the pot and lid BEING VERY CAREFUL. Pot will be extremely hot and it is heavy. Set the pot and lid somewhere that the hot pot won't scorch to cool down. After about 30 minutes, repeat the oiling and grill procedures. You need to do the coating and the cooking 3 times. Doing it outside is far better than smoking up and smelling up your kitchen when you do it in the oven. Don't wash your cast iron. Clean it wit a paper towel or scrubby and then wipe it out with a damp, clean cloth. Dry it and then, using a paper towel, place a very light coating of shortening on the entire thing, inside and out. Rub it one more time with a paper towel to remove any excess coating. Shortening works best for everything but vegetable oil works well also. The picture is the pot i just purchased taken today while it is in my oven heating up prior to placing the bread dough in the pot and I have probably cooked 10-12 loaves of sourdough in it since it arrived. Cast Iron cookware is a great investment as it will last several human lifetimes if taken care of. For baking bread, a Dutch Oven is the ultimate baking tool.

For the price point this is a very nicely finished cast-iron dutch oven. The flat surfaces are flat. The factory applied seasoning is a "good start" but, as with most cast-iron factory applied seasonings it is only a start and you are well advised to do a coupe more seasoning rituals get the "built up" surface finished a truly well seasoned piece of cast iron has. The lid makes a great pan which we use in our Komado Joe egg-type grill. For those who may be hunters, target shooters, and use cast bullets I purchased another one to use specifically to smelt "range pick up savage scrap lead" to use resprocess and use for bullet casting. This five-quart dutch oven is large enough to melt a good forty-five to fifty pounds refined fluxed lead lead at a time. This dutch oven is a perfect size for my favorite heat source, the Concord Titan Burner (propane)( wihich has heavy duty stainless steel frame with box formed legs. Very sturdy burner.

Good pot/pan combo, even heating, no hot spots, but the pre-seasoning was only skin-deep, and on first use I could already see a couple of small spots in the pan (lid) that had been missed. Then I noticed a small rust spot on the side of the pot after a bread crust stuck to it on just the 2nd or 3rd use (I had only used it to bake bread at that point). I bought this item to slow cook soups and stews, as well as bake bread, so I tried leaving salted water in the pot for a few hours to see if it would rust, and sure enough the bottom and sides had rusted evenly, everywhere, right up to the waterline after just 3-4 hours, so I decided to re-season both the pot and the pan/lid -- properly -- before using them to cook soup. I'd recommend this item at the $30-35 I paid for it, but realize that in exchange for the savings you will need to take the time to give it a PROPER seasoning before using it to cook anything liquid (unless you want more iron in your diet).

Purchased this as a housewarming gift for my son. He loves it. Said it’s durable and versatile. Will be purchasing one for myself soon.

I use these all the time! Great for baking sourdough. Very sturdy

Baked my first boule of sourdough in this yesterday & another one today! It made such a difference in the quality of the bread! I think it may’ve been because it allowed the bread to spread more than my previous container, but also gave it a beautiful golden color.