Dough Shears When Pressed

[Tammyfarms]

I made my first soap dough last week. I let it set for a week, wrapped in plastic in a vacuum sealed bag. Today I pulled it out to work with it. I kneeded it and rolled it in a ball. When I pressed the ball it sheared as shown in the picture. It’s not dry or crumbly at all, it actually feels a bit like a “slightly” moist play dough. I made 10 colors and tested 4. All do the same thing. My recipe is my usual, 55% lard
20% coconut oil
20% olive oil
5% castor oil
35% lye concentration
Aloe vera instead of water
2 tsp each sugar and salt in a 1000 gram batch
Various micas for colors
I was running late when I made my dough and it was at a light trace when I poured it into containers lined with plastic wrap.
I just purchased a soap dough book from Sorcery Soaps and am reviewing the material. She says to have the soap at heavy trace. Could this be the trouble? She also does not recommend sodium lactate, could the salt be the issue?
Anyone else have issues with shearing? Any thoughts on the problem?

 

[DeeAnna]

I don't have any thoughts about your troubles, but I'm bumping this thread to see if others will see this and help you.

 

[AliensrReal]

I ts highly possible the sat is a problem. You don’t want to add anything that can firm up the soap as you want it to stay pliable.

 

[Tammyfarms]

I don't have any thoughts about your troubles, but I'm bumping this thread to see if others will see

I ts highly possible the sat is a problem. You don’t want to add anything that can firm up the soap as you want it to stay pliable.

this and help you.

Thank you @DeeAnna and @AliensrReal. I bought the Sorcery Soap dough e-book. She mentions that she doesn’t recommend using sodium lactate or salt. I made a second batch and should have updated this post.
The salt was at least part of the problem. The second batch was moldable and would shear but not nearly as readily as the first batch. I was able to use the second batch of dough when making soap stones for this months challenge. Since this is my first experience with dough I’m not sure if it’s performing as it should, it still seems not quite right as I have to be very careful or it will shear. I will make another batch at some point to experiment. I really enjoyed working with dough.
Thank you both again!

 

[not_ally]

I can't shed any light, @Tammyfarms, just wanted to commiserate. I bought an extruder and some extruder discs on Etsy and tried a few different formulas for soap dough to use with them. None of them are extruding that well, they all break before the extruded form gets longer than an inch or two. It is frustrating because I keep seeing videos/blogposts, etc that say it is fine to use your regular recipe, but that does not seem to be working for me! I just put it aside as a "pick up again someday" project

 

[dmcgee5034]

I used my normal recipe which does have SL in it the one time I made doughs about 6 months ago. I wrapped really well in plastic wrap and keep it in a lock and lock container. I give it a good kneed before extruding it, and can extrude lengths longer than my mold. I’ve used this same dough 4 times now without issue. Probably just beginners luck, tho, because I didn’t do anything magical except watch Lisa at I Dream in Soap video.

 

[Tammyfarms]

@not_ally thanks! I have been looking at extruders but need to actually use some of the equipment I have already purchased (like my pull through set). It’s on the list though! My dough is wrapped in plastic and stored in a vacuum sealed bag waiting for that day.
@dmcgee5034 thank you. I watched that video before attempting my first batch and love how workable her dough looks in the video.
I really had hoped the Sorcery Soaps e-book would have troubleshooting tips but it doesn’t. Oh well. I will pick it back up another day.

 

[Cindy D.]

I don't use sodium lactate, so have no experience with that.... but if you have dough that shears perhaps try kneading more water into a bit of it and see if it helps. The water definitely made a huge difference for mine.

 

[glendam]

I have experienced that, but mostly with specific colors, like red. Sometimes that is the only color in the batch that acts up. You can condition it into submission, it won’t have the ideal texture though.