Villeroy & Boch Vivo Group CW0464 Cast Iron Oval Casserole Dish with Self-Basting Lid, Dutch Oven for Stews, Slow Cooking and Baking Bread, Oven and Induction Hob Safe, 29 cm, Grey

I have been impressed by the quality of this product. It's heavy for its size which is what's needed for bread — to soak up the heat in a pre-heated oven and give the risen dough a good 'oven spring'.This Villeroy and Bosch replaced a bigger dutch oven which I passed on to my son-in-law (who is a better sourdough baker than I am). My old one had a white smooth enamelled inside (which discoloured). This Villeroy one is all black iron and the inside is kind of granular, not smooth — yet, strangely, it is EASIER to clean. I've used it for lentil soup as well and there was remarkably little picking up on the bottom and washing up was a doddle. So if you want that Le Creuset style enamel inside, this doesn't have it but I think it's better.This is basically a 9" pan and I needed a smaller one as I only have a galley kitchen which is tight on storage. Just right and it's out all the time anyway. Bread bakers, you don't need an expensive cloche (which you can't pre-heat), you need one of these. Very reasonable cost — and top quality.

After waiting 6 months for a lodge Dutch oven that had a lid which rocked too much, I sent it back and ordered two of these for less than half the price. At £26 each they are an absolutely bargain, not the heaviest, but gave them a trial run baking bread. Worked perfect (note the colour of the loaves are paler deliberately). These allow me to bake two loaves at the same time for a bargain price. There is a little booklet that describes how to care and season. I am afraid I didn’t was, dry and season yet, as I was using baking patches my paper and only baking the loaves. But, I will season them even though I am only going to bake bread in them. The only downside I see is the knobs on the lid, they will discolour are the temperature 230 c, but that does not matter. I may remove them and put a small stainless steel bolt in to close the hole. I might be able to get the two in the one oven rather than running both ovens.Another thing, for baking bread the are a perfect size 4.2 quart for half of the standard 1000g sourdough recipes I use.As I say the instructions say how to use, clean, store and season, so I am not sure why some reviews here talk of rust, just clean and reseason!

I took this mostly to make bread because with my fan-only-oven it was difficult to make the dough rise properly in the oven due to poor humidity. Once I started adjusting to the new tool, it was really love at first sight. I've head impressive results with any kind of dough and leavening I've thrown in, from the oddest sponge-cake looking toasting bread to classic strong white and darker flours, from 2 different kind of home-made sourdough base (one dark rye, the other white flour) and dried commercial yeast. The airtightness, sturdiness and thermal characteristics of this dutch oven grant a little bit more leeway on mistakes during preparations (but that's probably true for any decent dutch oven).Then I've used it for almost anything else, from big chunky and greasy bean soups to frying eggs just because it was there already, and simmering pasta or poached eggs. It's a treat to use it.Lightly brushing the inner surfaces with a few drops of vegetable oil or olive oil makes it perfectly stick-proof in case of more solid foods like bread or fried eggs, so it's extremely effective.However, the only drawback with this kind of material is that you shouldn't put it in the dishwasher so it is not so straightforward or easy to clean, and that's really the only issue I found with it.

Love it, use it to bake bread and very happy with the results. Nice and heavy and holds heat well, obviously only clean by had, but it is still looking as new after a few months. Very happy with the purchase

I purchased this after reading the great reviews on here. It's true this pot is a GREAT investment.It was shipped quickly and the quality is really good. This pot is a staple in my kitchen and has taken up permanent residence on the hob for easy access!It's a fantastic size, not too small or too large. It's heavyweight and withstands a lot of wear and tear. It does not have any enamel coating on the inside so I do need to use oil to create a non stick surface. I'm sure you could season it, although I always wash mine with soapy water after using. Any food that does stick during cooking is easily washed off after soaking.I can see myself having this for years and years. Perfect for soups, chilli, any batch cooking.I haven't used it in the oven yet but I'm sure it'll be awesome.

The 9th time I used it I made an amazing vegetable stew. Everything I made in it til that point had been fab. Afterwards, I washed the pot and noticed large flakes coming away from the bottom of the pan. This was very worrying as some of my guests seem to have eaten the black bits... I fished out some these from the leftovers but look, the others are probably trapped in my friends' gastric rugae...I look after all my things and followed the guidance in the little booklet that came with it (do not put it into water while hot, do not scrub with abrasives, use silicone and wooden utensils, etc) so cannot see what I did wrong. I have since looked on Amazon and see a few others have had this problem.I couldn't return it to the seller as it was 5 months after the purchase and Villeroy & Boch in responding to my email said"All pans and pots from our subsidiary company Villeroy & Boch Group bear the name VIVO -but only under license.These products do not belong to our general range of articles and they are only purchased by several retailers.So these are not our articles."I am not inclined to recommend this pot unless you like your joy utterly crushed by disillusion before being served with it's-no'-my-fault.