“This soap’s too crumbly! This soap’s too mushy! This soap is just right!”
Who knew Olive Oil soap, aka, Castile, would be so difficult to make! However, when there is a will, there is a way, and I refused to give up. Now, my problem has always been that I can’t just stick to the recipe. I must tweak, add, alter, improve upon the tried and true recipes and most often with dire consequences.
On my first attempt, I had some left over maddar root infused olive oil so I thought that might add an interesting color. I think I even threw in some French Green Clay. The result was a chalky, half gelled bar that crumbles easily. The maddar root offered nothing and the clay most likely made it crumble. Since I didn’t write the addition down, duh, I don’t know how much I used…and sadly, even if I used it!
My next attempt had me using, 32 oz olive oil, 4.05 lye @ 6%, 12.15 oz rainwater, 0.7 oz Lavender E/O and some mongrel brand of Rosemary E/O at 0.3 oz. I mixed at 108 degrees F. Well two days later, still no trace…okay a gross exaggeration but you know what I mean. Finally, fearing stick blender burnout, I reached what looked like a thin trace and poured it into my silicone loaf mold and stuck it in the oven preheated to 170 degrees. Once in the oven, I turned it off and waited 15 minutes, looked for gel and turned the oven back on when gel not reached. This on again off again ordeal went on for about an hour when I finally gave up, took it out of the oven, wrapped it in a towel and went to bed. In the morning, it was a soft sticky loaf so I covered it back up and waited another day. Day two, no change. Disgusted, I carefully unmolded and sliced it. It was like slicing flan! Visually it looked like a lemon sponge cake with powdered sugar frosting and a not so smooth texture most likely from my mongrel Rosemary E/O ricing.
Third attempt was right on! I used 32 oz olive oil, some of which I had soaked calendula petals in, 4.15 oz lye at 4.5% SF, a mere 8.24 rainwater, 1.5 oz Lavender E/O and lastly, mixed at 122 degrees F. I put my bowl on top of a heating pad already set on low and stick blended until I reached a medium trace! Woo Hoo! I actually reached a trace without blender burn out! Poured into my log mold, wrapped in towels, placed on same heating pad and all went into a cardboard box. I turned off the heating about four hours before calling it a night. In the morning, nice firm loaf that was easy to unmold and cut. Success at last…
snellislesavonnier 