Request for Tips for making soap dough

[akseattle]

I'd like some tips for making soap dough.

I signed up for March's Challenge for fruit inspired soap. At this time, I'm thinking that I will try using embeds for the fruit inspiration part of the soap (in addition to fruit FO).
However, I've only made M& P embeds and I'd really like to try CP embeds.

I have watched Lisa's (of I Dream in Soap) video which @Mobjack Bay recommended.
I've watched Lisa's video many times this last year (including a couple times in the last couple days.) Lisa makes it look so easy that I don't believe my eyes!

I have the following questions:

1. @Mobjack Bay, you said you use your regular recipe but use a 31% lye concentration.
Lisa's video does say that you can use your own recipe. And I would love to use my regular recipe.
At first I thought that @Mobjack Bay reduces the lye concentration so that the batter would be slower to harden, but now I'm wondering why exactly?

I usually use a 38-40% lye concentration. If I use a 31% lye concentration, does it matter if the loaf that I'll be putting the embeds into has a 38-40% lye concentration?
I increased my lye concentration because I didn't like how small my bars ended up after curing with a lye concentration closer to 31%.
Does this difference in shrinkage make a difference when using embeds?

2. Lisa says you can go online and find recipe's for soap dough.
I'm wondering if there are certain oils that are better than others if you are making soap dough?
Would you be wanting your recipe to have a lower or higher value on hardness? Or does it matter?

My regular recipe has 49% combined lard & tallow (usually more lard than tallow.) I like this because I get a WHITER bar without using TD ( still suffering from TD PTSD...)
and also because it helps me get a harder bar. But, should I be using a recipe with a lower hardness value for soap dough?

3. Do you store your dough at room temperature? Is a cold basement too cold?
I get the impression from Lisa's video that soap dough should NOT be stored in the refrigerator, is that correct?

4. I had been thinking of using a column mold for embeds. @Vicki C discouraged that, she thought I could be hard to remove.
Would it be harder to remove because it would be sticky? What if I just wait longer to remove it?

5. I know that the idea is that you put your batter in a container and try to keep out any air.
How much time do you have from when your batter emulsifies to the time you put your batter in a tub and cover it before you are risking getting too much air on your dough?

6. In the video, Lisa talks about kneading the dough. Is it important to knead the dough, OR does she just need it because its gotten a little drier and she wants to get back a smoother consistency?

7. I just read some online discussions on Reddit. Some people who used Lisa's video to try to make soap dough said they had a problem with their soap dough being too sticky.
Some people swore you can expect stickiness and that all you have to do is sprinkle cornstarch or flour on your dough and knead it.
Is it true that this is to be expected? Do others use cornstarch or flour to address stickiness?

Are there little issues I should watch out for?

I've been wanting to try soap dough for the last year but have been too chicken.
Lisa makes it look so easy, but that i see these online discussions, and I get chicken all over again.

any tips, tricks, or comments on recipes or oils would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance!!

 

[Relle]

That's a lot of over thinking, I just make my normal recipe, put it in a zip lock bag for a few days, then use it like play dough, nothing more, nothing less.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I'm no soap dough expert, but here's what I can contribute. For context, my recipes which are typically 20% or less lauric+myristic, 40% or more oleic, 30% palmitic+stearic, and 3-5% ricinoleic fatty acid.

When I use column molds to make embeds, e.g. a heart or moon for an entire loaf of soap, I use my normal recipe, fill the mold, and let it sit overnight for use the next day.

The soap dough recipe I used most recently was 55% lard, 20% coconut, 20% high oleic sunflower and 5% castor, and 33% lye concentration. I poured the batter into square cavity molds, covered them with plastic and let them sit on a rack on the counter overnight. When I unmolded the soap I put each color in a heavy duty plastic freezer bag and also double bagged the individual bags as a group. The basic process is just like making a regular loaf of soap.

There are undoubtedly many recipes that work for soap dough. If the recipe contains a lot of liquid oils and castor, I imagine the dough can be quite sticky, especially early on. I imagine the dough would be easy to knead and I guess the cornstarch helps with stickiness.

The water content of the dough is going to influence pliability.

The soap dough I make is not sticky. It can be a little stiff, but it softens up as I knead it.

The longer you leave dough sitting out, the drier it will get. If your dough is drying out while you're using it, stick most of it back in a plastic bag. I've probably also lightly spritzed dough with water at some point in the past. How fast the dough dries out is going to depend on moisture in the dough, relative humidity, etc.

Hope this helps.

 

[Vicki C]

Hi - I misunderstood, I thought you meant you were going to use a column mold for soap dough. I’m sure it would be fine for embeds. Embeds should not be as soft as soap dough.
My soap dough is sometimes sticky if I try to knead it too early.
You can bring the batter to full trace before putting it in a container or bag. Too early and you can get that unemulsified ashy look. I’ve had this happen.
I think you’re on a good track.

 

[akseattle]

That's a lot of over thinking,

Guilty as charged A bad habit I have never been able to shake ....

@Mobjack Bay , thank you for information about your experience with soap dough.
I've watched quite a few other videos on soap dough this evening. Curiously, Lisa (I Dream in Soap) is the only person who put her dough in tubs. Everyone else did single cavity molds which are quite smaller.

A video I really liked by The Soap Artist: A Soap Clay Tutorial, had alot of little details. She suggested recipes with 70-80% hard oils are optimal as recipes with more liquid oils can be a little on the sticky side. So, both her hard/liquid oils and water/ lye concentration were pretty consistent with yours. Since the hard/liquid oils in my recipe is right in there, too. I'm going to go ahead and use my recipe and reduce my lye concentration.

So, I think I am getting there. Now all I need is time!!

Hi - I misunderstood, I thought you meant you were going to use a column mold for soap dough.

@Vicki C . Actually, I have a column mold that is like a giant embed. But, it's not the right shape. So, I'll need to cut it up a little. So, I will need to unmold it before it's too hard. But, I also don't want it all sticky. But, I'll need soap dough for other parts of my soap.

 

[artemis]

Are you making a normal batch of soap anytime soon? If so, I recommend you reserve some of the batter in a Ziploc or an airtight container and see what happens. That will help you see how well your normal recipe works as soap dough.

 

[dmcgee5034]

Great advice all around. I use my normal recipe which is 35%LC and don’t do anything different there - it’s how you treat it once it’s poured and after a day of setting up. I use individual round cavity molds, and like to make a few colors so this works good for me. Cover with plastic wrap during the set up time. Unmold the next day, give a kneed with gloved hands, then wrap tightly in plastic wrap and put into an airtight container. Ready to kneed again and use after a few days. Kneed left overs periodically, rewrap and store in air tight containers until ready to use again. I’ve never had to wet, dry, or had sticky issues this way.
The one time it was sticky was me taking a short cut. I had blue soap dough but needed black, so I mixed colorant and oil to make a slurry to fold and kneed in - it worked but it was messy.

 

[akseattle]

Are you making a normal batch of soap anytime soon? If so, I recommend you reserve some of the batter in a Ziploc or an airtight container and see what happens.

Well, my goal is to make a soap for the March challenge. So, unless I run out of time and have to change my plan, I need some soap dough.
In the past, whenever I have soap that doesn't fit into my loaf, or even a special single mold I'm trying out, I pour or smush (depending on consistency by that time) the remaining batter into a small 1 oz or less sized mold. Or I smush it onto one side of the small mold. So, I have all these tiny little bars.

But, now that I know that it's possible to make soap dough from an ordinary recipe, on my next regular batch (with 38-40% lye concentration), I'll put some in a single cavity mold, cover it up air tight, etc. and see what happens. I have so often wished I had soap mold to try different things. I'm getting excited about the prospect of getting a handle on this skill.

So much to learn in soapmaking!!!!

.... it’s how you treat it once it’s poured and after a day of setting up.

@dmcgee5034 , that is the crux of my fears!
I still remember when I made my first batch of soap. The videos all looked very straightforward. But when I actually made the soap, I was running around my kitchen, forgetting this, not expecting that ..... it was a combination of excitement and exhaustion when I was done, then dread a day later when I thought it had gone all wrong.

I'm thinking I might be back at square 1 with soap dough- am I waiting too long? not long enough? stored in okay temperature? is it trying to gel? (videos said don't let it go through gel) Honestly, I still don't even know if my soaps go through gel even though I'm trying to force gel by putting them on a heating pad by the heater with a hood over them !!!

 

[dmcgee5034]

@dmcgee5034 , that is the crux of my fears!
I still remember when I made my first batch of soap. The videos all looked very straightforward. But when I actually made the soap, I was running around my kitchen, forgetting this, not expecting that ..... it was a combination of excitement and exhaustion when I was done, then dread a day later when I thought it had gone all wrong.

I'm thinking I might be back at square 1 with soap dough- am I waiting too long? not long enough? stored in okay temperature? is it trying to gel? (videos said don't let it go through gel) Honestly, I still don't even know if my soaps go through gel even though I'm trying to force gel by putting them on a heating pad by the heater with a hood over them !!!

LOL, breathe, my sweet friend. You’ve got this.
In my experience, my individual cavity molds soaps don’t get that hot, so I would say don’t worry about gel. You can always elevate and put a fan on it to be sure.
Just in case some pics give you a bit more certainty, here are 2 from my soap room. This is the plain and simple individual cavity molds soaps I use, and here’s how I store my dough in air tight containers. The other pic shows the dough wrapped in plastic wrap in addition to the air tight container. I just looked and I haven’t kneaded since early January when I made flowers out of it.
Honestly, I like certainty, too, but had to just give it a whirl and see what happened. You got this! Hope this helps.

In the past, whenever I have soap that doesn't fit into my loaf, or even a special single mold I'm trying out, I pour or smush (depending on consistency by that time) the remaining batter into a small 1 oz or less sized mold. Or I smush it onto one side of the small mold. So, I have all these tiny little bars.

But, now that I know that it's possible to make soap dough from an ordinary recipe, on my next regular batch (with 38-40% lye concentration), I'll put some in a single cavity mold, cover it up air tight, etc. and see what happens. I have so often wished I had soap mold to try different things. I'm getting excited about the prospect of getting a handle on this skill.

This is the perfect plan!

 

[Firefly24]

I'd like some tips for making soap dough.

I signed up for March's Challenge for fruit inspired soap. At this time, I'm thinking that I will try using embeds for the fruit inspiration part of the soap (in addition to fruit FO).
However, I've only made M& P embeds and I'd really like to try CP embeds.

I have watched Lisa's (of I Dream in Soap) video which @Mobjack Bay recommended.
I've watched Lisa's video many times this last year (including a couple times in the last couple days.) Lisa makes it look so easy that I don't believe my eyes!

I have the following questions:

1. @Mobjack Bay, you said you use your regular recipe but use a 31% lye concentration.
Lisa's video does say that you can use your own recipe. And I would love to use my regular recipe.
At first I thought that @Mobjack Bay reduces the lye concentration so that the batter would be slower to harden, but now I'm wondering why exactly?

I usually use a 38-40% lye concentration. If I use a 31% lye concentration, does it matter if the loaf that I'll be putting the embeds into has a 38-40% lye concentration?
I increased my lye concentration because I didn't like how small my bars ended up after curing with a lye concentration closer to 31%.
Does this difference in shrinkage make a difference when using embeds?

2. Lisa says you can go online and find recipe's for soap dough.
I'm wondering if there are certain oils that are better than others if you are making soap dough?
Would you be wanting your recipe to have a lower or higher value on hardness? Or does it matter?

My regular recipe has 49% combined lard & tallow (usually more lard than tallow.) I like this because I get a WHITER bar without using TD ( still suffering from TD PTSD...)
and also because it helps me get a harder bar. But, should I be using a recipe with a lower hardness value for soap dough?

3. Do you store your dough at room temperature? Is a cold basement too cold?
I get the impression from Lisa's video that soap dough should NOT be stored in the refrigerator, is that correct?

4. I had been thinking of using a column mold for embeds. @Vicki C discouraged that, she thought I could be hard to remove.
Would it be harder to remove because it would be sticky? What if I just wait longer to remove it?

5. I know that the idea is that you put your batter in a container and try to keep out any air.
How much time do you have from when your batter emulsifies to the time you put your batter in a tub and cover it before you are risking getting too much air on your dough?

6. In the video, Lisa talks about kneading the dough. Is it important to knead the dough, OR does she just need it because its gotten a little drier and she wants to get back a smoother consistency?

7. I just read some online discussions on Reddit. Some people who used Lisa's video to try to make soap dough said they had a problem with their soap dough being too sticky.
Some people swore you can expect stickiness and that all you have to do is sprinkle cornstarch or flour on your dough and knead it.
Is it true that this is to be expected? Do others use cornstarch or flour to address stickiness?

Are there little issues I should watch out for?

I've been wanting to try soap dough for the last year but have been too chicken.
Lisa makes it look so easy, but that i see these online discussions, and I get chicken all over again.

any tips, tricks, or comments on recipes or oils would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance!!

Hey, I bought a book from www.socerysoaps.com Bee is the creator of soap dough. She has so many videos on YT. As far as your question #5 goes-I pour the soap separated by colors into different molds covered with saran wrap. After 12-18 hours I unmold and wrap each color in saran wrap and then place into air tight containers. After 2 days, I use it or store it. Q. #7 I use cornstarch in a flour sack puff as needed lightly.

Hope this helps you.

 

[dibbles]

All good tips above, and you can use your regular recipe. I don't use soap dough often, but have found a great deal of useful information/tips at Sorcery Soaps. The first recipe I tried was the free recipe Bee shared there, and it does work well if you aren't using your regular recipe. She uses a high amount of castor oil, which might help with pliability.

I cover the freshly poured soap dough with plastic wrap and unmold as soon as I can (usually 24-48 hours), wrap tightly and store in an air tight container. Like using clay, kneading the soap dough will soften it up so that you can work with it. There are tips in both of the links I provided. If the soap dough is sticky, applying a small amount of corn starch by tapping a muslin bag (with corn starch in it) on the soap dough is helpful, especially if you are pressing the soap dough into a silicone mold. Bee has made countless soap dough videos available on YouTube which I have found to be very helpful.

You can do this!

 

[bookworm42]

I appreciate this thread so much!
@akseattle you're not alone in over thinking. I've seen the videos and thought it can't be that easy?! Which then makes me hesitant to try.
Reading this makes me feel more confident and I'll plan on trying to make some with my next soap batch .