Anyone ever have to repair a porcelain cast iron pan?

[mother earth]

I was doing the Dutch oven bread (see YouTube) and it requires high heat, 475 degrees, and not thinking about the porcelain part of my pan, I used this temp. The pan is supposed to heat up in the oven before baking the bread, which is when a tiny spot started crackling. I now have a spot about the size of a half dollar that is w/o porcelain, ugh.

Has anyone ever had to repair the porcelain on a cast iron pan? I've looked online and it looks do-able, thought I'd check in for possible feedback.

On the bright side, the bread is incredibly good. If you like baking bread you can get great results with this method & it's incredibly easy, no knead recipes abound too. TIA

[FarPoint]

1. Sorry to hear of your misfortune...

I use a Erie-Griswold dutch oven...cast iron for my bread. Le Creuset is temper-safe as well at 500...but check to see if the lid knob is oven safe....the new ones are but not the older models....I had to buy an oven temp safe knob.

I have no answer to you problem. Just empathising...

[mother earth]

2. TY, FP. I love my DO, it's in the shape of a snowflake, white....must find a way to repair. :)

[Stinky The Clown]

3. I don't believe there is any way to repair that.

Porcelain is actually a glass material that is fired on a high temperature. Some of the lower end pots are not shock sensitive and if not handled properly can have the porcelain crack or chip if placed empty into a hot oven. I have several Le Cruset and they don't suffer from this. I have a low end one (not sure of the brand, bought at Kohl's) that has chips on it from thermal shock.

The porcelain coating is a glass like material that is applied under very high heat. When you get thermal shock, it is not unlike pouring boiling water into a cold glass. The glass will break and can't be repaired. Same thing here. That chip can't be fixed.

Fortunately, cast iron is perfectly safe to cook in, coated or uncoated. The only worry might be glass shards at the chip site. Check that carefully. If the site is clean (it probably is) then use the pot. Run a test by boiling some water and watching at the crash site for chipping shards. If you can boil water with no chipping you're probably good to go. Just use gentle utensils in it - plastic, wood, silicone, etc., and not metal . . . . just to be safe.

And next time be more careful.

[mother earth]

6. Yeah, wish I had been more careful,I didn't think preheating it would be an issue, but at that temp

it was. Upon further research, I can still use it (will need to season it to prevent rust), the spot is contained and must've been because of the temp & it being empty for preheat. I could've repaired an exterior spot, but interior cannot be done and still be food-safe.

[intaglio]

4. Ok it can be put back together but

it would be unusable. A repair for use would have to weld the pieces together, difficult in itself cast welding is a specialist job, additionally that would require the enamel to be removed from the area of the weld so it would have to be re-enameled.

Sorry ...

[mother earth]

8. TY, intaglio, I prefer to keep using it, so I'll suffer with and tolerate that

spot.

I'd think there'd be some way to fix this, but apparently not.

[TheManInTheMac]

5. Had you previously used the pan under the broiler? Seems strange that 475 would cause a crack.

I doubt anything would fix it, though. Hopefully it is just cosmetic.

I've seen Jacques Pepin make a no knead bread in an anondized aluminum saucepan once on "Fast Food My Way." He mixed the dough, autolysed it, proofed it and baked it all in the pan.

I've not gotten into the no knead breads, though. I find the kneading to be therapeutic.

[mother earth]

7. It happened because the DO was empty and being preheated, prob wouldn't have

affected a solely cast iron DO, but am able to keep using it, I'll just have to season it for that spot,
a real bummer. It's a beautiful dutch oven, which is why I bought it.

The no knead breads are great because they take only a few minutes to prep & the rest is rising time.
You can use any pan or crock, but covering it is key, it seals in the moist air and gives a great crust and good inner rise to your bread, old fashioned artisan style.

Happy bread baking.

Thanks to you & everyone for feedback.

[TheManInTheMac]

9. Oh, yes, that probably was it. I'll be sure to only preheat my DO in a preheated

oven. I just got my first porcelain dutch oven for Christmas this year. I love it, but obviously they aren't as indestructible as I thought. I think I'll try one, thanks.

[Warpy]

10. I did my DO bread in a Le Creuset

but I never heated it over 400. 475 seems really excessive to me.

What you might be able to do is contact the pan's manufacturer, send them a picture of how the porcelain has failed. They will either honor a lifetime warranty (even though the failure might have been your fault) or give you an estimate on redoing the coating.

I wish there were things that could be done by the owner and that would hold up under high heat. My favorite frypan of all time was a Le Creuset with a chip, bought at a thrift shop. It broke my heart 2 years later when the chip extended and caused most of the coating inside the pan to fail. If it had only been the outside coating, I'd probably still be using it.

[mother earth]

13. Yes, it does seem excessive. I did use my DO at that temp the first time and it was fine, the only

difference being I had not heated it up while preheating the oven, which is what is recommended. Other than that one spot, it seems usable and I did finish baking in it without any issues. If the manufacturer of my pan were still in business I'd be contacting them. I even searched ebay to see if there were any DO's similar to mine that were for sale, none. It's a Tim Love, Country Cottage Collection, it's white and is in the shape of a snowflake. It was never as expensive as LeCreuset, but it wasn't a cheap, bottom line kind of pan either...I'm hoping they'll start manufacturing them again in the future.

Thank you, for offering assistance and advise.

[LancetChick]

11. This is what one of my old, old Le Creuset pots looks like.

Abused by friends, family, and even *cough* myself. I still use it, though, and it's really not bad! Food doesn't seem to stick very much, even though I don't season the bare spot. And it's still easy to wash (aside from the weight of cast iron) and doesn't need vigorous scrubbing.

[IMG][/IMG]

[mother earth]

14. Yeah, that's how mine looks now, but it is usable, so I will treat it very carefully in the future.

Live & learn, I guess, I had used it at the 475 temp previously, but only while some bread dough was in it. This time, I was preheating it like they tell you to, so much for that step!

[GoneOffShore]

12. I believe that Le Creuset has a Lifetime Limited Warranty

If it is a Le Creuset you might want to see if they'll do anything for you.