It is Thanksgiving when I get this email:
“First of all, I cannot tell you how much I ABSOLUTELY love my pot. I use it all the time. I got it last year for Christmas and I have sent many people to your website and they have purchased them and LOVE THEM!! 🙂
I used it this week and when I pulled it out of the oven from preheating to place the dough into it, it had a crack (see picture attached). I don’t remember it being there when I put it in the oven, but I can’t guarantee that. I have never ‘washed’ it. I just wipe it out and store to the next time. I use it about once or twice a month on average.
Second, is there anything I can do to “fix” the crack? I absolutely love my pot and take very good care of it. I am a rule follower, so I made sure when I got it that I read up on all the care and have followed them. I am just soooo bummed and am hoping there might be a ‘fix’.”
A bump along the way could cause a crack to begin later on. Clay has a memory. This could happen at any stage in the making or in the using or storing. The BreadPot does get exposed to more than a little repeated thermal stress–cold dough, pulling the pot from the oven to put he dough in, setting it on a cold counter (I have taken to not pulling the whole pot out of the oven to put the dough in, just pulling the rack and removing the lid to reduce stress). Even repeated dishwashing can weaken it over time. There is really no way to know what happened. If you were to send it back to me, I might be able to know if the pot or the clay was defective in some way.
In the years I have made these, I have had very few break with use, but it can happen, as it is clay. Heidi loved her BreadPot, used it a couple of times a month for nearly a year. Then suddenly it develops a crack. She is distraught, looking for a way to fix it. Sometimes a crack is minor and the pot will continue to function safely for years. I look at the crack in one of the pictures and think, “that looks like it will last a while”. Then I see the crack from the outside and, no, no, no, this is not a pot dear Heidi should use for baking. She confirms that it wiggles a bit. It it moves, it is not really safe to use any more.
Can we fix it? No, not in a way that would be safe to use at 500 degrees F. It is one of the realities of pottery, especially pots for cooking, is that it will likely break, going the way of all but a few pots through human history. Some crack sooner, some last to be heirlooms. Hand crafted ceramic is active. It transmits the pressure of my hand and tool to the user through time and space. I hope that connection balances the risk that it may break unexpectedly.
The warranty posted on this site allows for discretion.
https://www.breadpots.com/care-and-use/
“Throughout ceramic history, most pots used for baking or cooking have eventually met their demise. This is what has kept potters in business for thousands of years across many cultures. Occasionally a BreadPot will break on first or early use. It this happens we will replace it within 6 months of purchase. After that we will use our discretion.”
We will do our best to help.
