Olive Oil Soap (Copy) (Copy)

1. Weigh out all your ingredients except the lye.
2. Optional: pour some of the water you plan to use into an ice cube tray. I freeze about 4 cubes and keep the rest as water. You're ready to start when they are frozen.
3. Add your 4 oils/fats into the stainless steel bowl, put water in your saucepan. Pop the bowl of oils on top of the pan of water and heat the water gently. As soon as the fats in the bowl have melted, remove the bowl from the heat and put it to one side to cool.
4. As the fats are cooling, put the water (and ice cubes if using) in a non corrosive jug (I use glass). Ensure your sleeves cover all the skin on your arms, put on your rubber gloves and goggles. Weigh out the lye into another non corrosive jug.
5. I always, without fail, do the next step outside out of the way of everyone. It also keeps the unpleasant fumes outside and, if you spill anything, your counter top isn't trashed. If you don't have easy access outside then you may choose to do this in the kitchen. Wherever you do it, please be careful. Add the contents of the lye jug to the water jug, NEVER THE OTHER WAY AROUND. This avoids the lye 'erupting' as the water hits it. "Add water to lye and you may die" is a bit of an extreme way of remembering, but it works.
6. Stir the lye into the water slowly and gently with a spatula, being careful not to splash. Ensure the lye dissolves fully in the water. If you don't, you may end up with a layer of lye at the bottom of the jug that you'll need to break up later. Which is not advisable at all. Don't ask me how I know this.
7. Once the lye has dissolved, leave the jug of lye solution outside to cool.
8. Wait until both the oils in the bowl and the lye solution have cooled to a temperature between 90 and 110 degrees F (32-43 degrees C). They don't have to be the same temperature, but they do both need to be within that range.
9. Once the oils and lye solution have both cooled to within the temperature range, put on your goggles and gloves. Pour the lye solution into the bowl of oils, stir gently with a spatula to start mixing. Make a note of the temperature at this point.
10. Plug in the hand blender and submerge it below the liquid's surface so it doesn't splash. Turn on the blender and blend the mixture until it starts to thicken. This can be anything from 30 seconds to a couple of minutes, depending on the recipe. You are aiming to reach the point of 'trace', where your soap mixture leaves a trail on the surface when you drizzle it over. Another way to know you've reached trace is if the temperature of your soap has increased a few degrees from when you took the temperature in step 9. Don't be tempted to overblend. If you do, your soap will thicken too much and you won't be able to pour into into the mould.
11. Add a teaspoon or so of your essential oil. Mix with the spatula until combined.
12. Pour the soap into the mould, tap on a hard surface gently to level off or do it with the spatula. Then cover the mould with a layer of cling film. Wrap the whole thing in a clean tea towel.
13. With your goggles and gloves on, immediately wash up everything else you've used as it's easier to do it now than when the soap has solidified later. I usually wash everything twice.
14. Leave the mould wrapped in the tea towel undisturbed for about 24 hours. The soap will generate heat as the saponification takes place, so if you feel the mould occasionally you'll notice it's warm. After 24 hours, the mould will be at room temperature again.
15. Wearing gloves again just in case the soap is still a bit acidic, turn out your soap onto a board. Cut it into slabs.
16. Leave the bars of soap to dry and 'cure' for at least a month.

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