An easy way to remove staining from an enameled cast iron pot is to add a small amount of bleach (about 1/4 cup), dilute with tap water and (optionally) squirt in a little dishwashing liquid. Let the pot sit out over night. Discard water and rinse really well to get rid of bleach odor. This even works if you've scorched the bottom and have some baked on food residue. The Wolfgang line of enameled cast iron pots are nowhere near the quality of Le Creuset or other high end brands. Preheating an empty enameled cast iron pot in the oven for bread baking can weaken the enamel, making it more prone to chipping (and crazing). Since the enamel on the pot you have is already crazed, you might as well use it to bake bread. I've been using non-enameled cast iron dutch ovens for bread baking long before it was popularized by Bittman's article in the New York Times. One thing that bothers me is that it seems as though your risen dough, when ready to bake, still had some oil on it. Even with the no-knead recipe, bread dough has 2 rises - the bulk rise and then, after shaping, the final rise prior to baking. For the final fermentation, the dough is not put in an oiled bowl so there should be no oil on the risen dough when you place it in your preheated pot. A thin layer of any coarse meal (coarse corn grits, wheat bran, semolina, etc.) on the bottom of the pot prevents sticking. In fact, even for the first rise (the bulk fermentation) there is really no need to oil the bowl. Misting the bowl (or whatever rising container you're using) *lightly* with water (use a plant mister for this) is just as effective. Happy baking. Enjoy your pot.

love2weed, I agree that the pan should be cleaned well first, then seasoned. I don't have a self cleaning oven, so that's out, but I have used spray on oven cleaner, put the pan in a garbage bag and left it overnight. Then you have a clean pan and you can start from scratch with seasoning. I also use shortening to season cast iron, some oils seem to get rancid to me. I rub all over, inside and out and put the pan in the oven upside down with foil under it to catch any drips. 350 for a couple of hours (maybe 3 or 4 if I forget), or 400 for an hour or so will start it off nicely. The very best seasoning method I've found is making french fries. Heat the oil hot enough to fry the potatoes and make a couple of batches. That oil soaks right in and in a couple of uses, you have a very nicely seasoned pan. I love cast iron, I have a set of skillets that I got in 1974 and they are nearly as slick as teflon. I'm still working on that old yard sale pan I got a couple of years ago, a Griswold "chicken fryer", but it's coming along... Annie

First try a large pipe wrench If not you could try taking a sawzall with a new blade and cut the stub off so it is close to flush . Then make a perpendicular cut through the sidewall of the pipe stub. With this approach you run the risk of cracking the pipe though.

Hmmm. thanks for all the info. I'll have to investigate conversion coatings further. I have some sort of thick coating-type stuff on a radiator in the bathroom that someone else put on; it's thicker than a paint would be, and it's sort of rubbery or plasticy looking. It's peeling in a spot or two, and it has yellowed; we never painted over it, I guess we thought we shouldn't. I wonder what it is--I didn't really get any details from my contractor/handyman. If I've got a pipe w/ an area that's got this black flaking, and an area where the paint really stuck well, should I avoid a conversion coating? Or will it stick well enough to the paint that I can tackle the whole pipe without having to remove all the paint?