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Q for you: I've wanted to make soap, but have never done so. Even have some lye in the basement. Do you have a suggestion for an easy starter receipe?
This for a Castile-type bar soap
36% water. 5 percentage superfat/discount. Makes about 5 pounds of soap, which will last about 5 months for two people.
Equipment:
8 qt stainless steel pot
1 quart or larger glass bowl (I use one that is like a big measuring cup with a handle and pour spout)
medium sized ceramic or glass cereal or soup bowl
large stainless steel whisk
ice cream scoop
stainless steel tablespoon (regular silverware type)
long thermometer
silicone spatula
digital scale that measures in grams
wooden cigar boxes (the deep kind)
plastic wrap
a stick blender
Ingredients:
375 grams coconut oil (14 oz. jar at Aldi)
442 grams palm oil (ordered from Amazon)
716 grams olive oil (the cheapest you can get at the grocery. It doesn't need to be EVOO)
48 grams essential oil for scent (I use rosemary or citrus and get them from Amazon.)
552 grams distilled water (the "distilled" part is crucial)
217 grams of Red Crown lye crystals (from Amazon)
Process:
A. Prepare the oils:
1. Put jar of coconut oil (still sealed) in sink with very hot water, so it melts a little and is easier to get completely out of the jar.
2. Put 8 qt stainless pot on scale and zero it.
3. Put the coconut oil in the pot. It should weigh within a few grams of 375 g. Re-zero the scale and, using the ice cream scoop, put the palm oil in the pot right on top of the coconut oil (you'll have to push it off the scoop with your thumb, so have a washcloth handy). Re-zero and pour in the olive oil. Finally, re-zero and pour in the essential oil.
4. Put the oil filled pot on the stovetop on low or simmer. You need to melt any still solid coconut oil and the palm oil. You want to get the temperature up to about 110-115 deg. F It is easy to overshoot and then it takes a long time to cool back down. So shut off the heat early.
B. Prepare the lye: (BE CAREFUL. LYE IS CAUSTIC AND WILL BURN YOUR SKIN.)
1. Put the glass bowl on the scale and zero it. Pour the distilled water into the bowl to the proper weight. Then set the bowl aside.
2. Put the very dry cereal bowl on the scale and zero it. Using the tablespoon as necessary, carefully pour the lye crystals into the cereal bowl until you hit the proper weight. Don't worry if there are clumps, just as long as the weight is right.
3. Now, very carefully but confidently, pour all the lye crystals into the bowl of water. Stir with the stainless whisk until the solution is clear. Don't splash any of the solution on your hand. When it is clear, stop stirring and set it aside. It will be quite hot - above 175 deg. F. I usually put the bowl on a cold burner on the stove top, so I can run the range hood just in case there are vapors.
4. Measure the temperature of the oils and of the lye solution periodically. Be diligent about cleaning off the thermometer after measuring one and before measuring the other. You are aiming to have them both at about 110-115 deg. F before you will mix them. It will take about 35-40 minutes for the lye solution to cool.
C. Make the soap:
1. While the lye is cooling, prepare your cigar box molds. I use two crossing sheets of plastic wrap, long enough to completely cover the soap after it is poured in. Mold the wrap down into the box, pushing it into the corners, leaving the loose ends up over the rim of the boxes.
2. Plug in your stick blender, set it on the lowest speed and have it ready next to the stove top
3. Once the lye solution and the oils are each about 110-115 deg. F. turn off the heat under the oil pot if you didn't turn it off earlier. Pour the lye solution into the pot with the oils and start mixing with stick blender. Keep the head below the surface and slowly move it around the pot.
4. In about 5 or 6 minutes, the soap will start to resemble custard. Periodically stop blending and draw the tip of the blender across the surface. If the ridges created that way stay up, you've blended enough. If they fall back, keep blending.
D. Mold, cut and age:
1. Once the soap is thick enough, pour it into your plastic wrap lined cigar boxes. I use two and fill them each a little over half way. A silicone spatula will be of great help in getting all the soap out of the pot. A friend would also be helpful. One to hold the pot and one to use the spatula. After all the soap is in the molds, gently bump them on the counter to make sure everything is settled, smooth the top with the spatula, then fold and press the loose plastic wrap ends down over the soap so that it is covered.
2. Close the box top and wrap the box in a kitchen towel. You don't want it to cool too fast. Let the wrapped boxes sit for 2-3 days. Then remove the now harder soap from the molds, remove the plastic wrap and use a large chef's knife to cut it into bars of appropriate size.
3. Sadly, you can't use the soap yet, because it will melt too fast. You have to age it to make it hard. I put my new soap bars, standing on edge and separated from each other by about a quarter inch for air circulation, in two old wire in-baskets. I put the baskets in a cardboard box, close it and put it out in the garage, where it sits for about 5 months, when I bring it in and put the soap in the linen closet on a paper towel.
4. When our current linen closet supply runs out, I bring in the aged soap from the garage and make a new batch to put out for aging. So I make soap about every five months.
