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.

All that means, marvelousmarvin, is that you do not want to start cooking in a dry pan. Instead, add at least a film of oil. How much oil depends on what you are cooking. Eventually you will create a deep cure that is, in effect, a non-stick surface. At that point you could start with a dry pan. But it won't really be dry, because your last maintainance step, always, is to regrease the pan before storing (basically, step 4 above). BTW, step 1 above only applies to their pre-seasoned stuff. Raw cast iron is shipped with a coating (wax, in America, edible shellac, in Asia) which needs to be removed. You do that by scrubbing with hot water, a scouring pad, and soap. And elbow grease, of course. Immediatley dry and grease the pan. Then cure it. That's the very last time soap should touch that piece.

Thanks to all who helped. I seasoned two pans at once, upside down. They looked brown when done, not black, but seemed hard and shiny. Then I baked the cornsticks the next night. My husband was trying to help, so I told him to preheat the pan, melt butter into it, brush it on the cavity surfaces, then put in the batter. I didn't think he preheated the pan enough, and then I thought it cooled down too much while he buttered it and filled it, but I've learned never to critique the helper: or the helper stops trying to help. I just figured, oh well, they are going to get stuck. He took them out when they were done, and I held my breath when he flipped the pan over onto a plate. They all just dropped right out! He looked at me looking; I must have looked surprised, because he said, "What is it?! Aren't they supposed to do that?"

Azzalea, after the first round they were brown but not at all sticky. The ones that were partly seasoned when I got them looked like the coating stuck well, but the two pieces that were unseasoned had only a brown sheen, maybe because the coating was thin? I seasoned them again tonight, at 350ð for almost 4 hours. The two pieces that started bare still aren't black but since they're for me I'll just start using them. Two of the others are for giving away but they look pretty good. One of the formerly bare pans seems to be for making some kind of donuts...it came with a recipe called "aebleskiver/munk" and you're supposed to add cooked apples or jam before turning them. While turning it over (with an oven mitt) to look at the coating on the hemispherical indents for the donuts, a finger on my bare hand grazed the hot metal, ow! Luckily it's just a 1/4-inch-square burn but after that I just turned the oven off because I'm tired of seasoning these pans. Do you all really get a good black coating with the 1-hour methods? Thanks for the advice all. I will probably shell out for Lodge pre-seasoned next time I need a skillet to own or give, but thanks to your help at least my corn sticks will stop sticking. Melissa