Cure time

[Fishel Tessler]

I'm a newbie, 5 batches in.
If I don't cut a batch into bars, how do you figure cure time? (Is it called a soap log?)

For those who will wonder why, for sanitary reasons... thankfully I host many guests and would like them to be able to shave off a slice and use that.

 

[Soaped]

I'm a newbie, 5 batches in.
If I don't cut a batch into bars, how do you figure cure time? (Is it called a soap log?)

For those who will wonder why, for sanitary reasons... thankfully I host many guests and would like them to be able to shave off a slice and use that.

I cannot give you a definite answer about cure times but I can say that in my experience if soap takes too long to be cut it may be extremely hard to cut or crumble when cut.

If you cut the soap into small sample size pieces then the guest may be able to use as needed.

 

[MelissaG]

Cure time doesn't change. It will be four to six weeks. If you wait to cut it into bars, it will be too hard to cut if it's cold process. We tend to use log and loaf interchangeably.

You may like to make hotel sized bars, or you can create thin slices yourself. If you leave the people to do it, they won't know how much they need.

 

[Ekuzo]

I agree it's better to cut it. If not cut, it will be much more difficult to cure properly since the water will have more trouble evaporating from the inside of the loaf - even if it cures eventually, it will take longer.

Curing time depends on the recipe. 4 weeks is the bare minimum for some, for others it's much more - and those numbers are true when it's cut in bars. I don't think it's possible to give exact cure time for curing a log, I would advise against that.

Even if you wait long enough and it cures, there's the problem with cutting the loaf when it's already hard. Whether cutting or shaving off slices, the result won't be as expected. It will either be impossible to cut, or one will end up with ugly broken pieces of soap and a lot of crumbs

 

[Fishel Tessler]

I cannot give you a definite answer about cure times but I can say that in my experience if soap takes too long to be cut it may be extremely hard to cut or crumble when cut.

If you cut the soap into small sample size pieces then the guest may be able to use as needed.

First off..thank you @Soaped for picking up the post.
I'm hearing that hardness, making it difficult or unsightly to self serve, will be the issue...
As possible solutions 1) is it possible to make the fully cured loaf softer? 2) what are your thoughts on a stainless steel fruit peeler as a slicing mechanism on typical hardness loafs?