Homemade Soap With a Hand Blender
- Soap making is something that does not require special ingredients beyond lye. As you become more adventurous, you can add essential oils from flowers or herbs. The basic ingredients required are 18 oz. lye, 5 cups distilled water (free of the impurities tap water may contain), 20 cups olive oil, a metal container in which to combine the water and lye, a 2-gallon enameled pot (like a lobster pot), a long-handled spoon, a hand mixer and an airtight container that is at least 9 inches by 6 inches by 13 inches. A thermometer can help as well.
- Combine the water and lye in the metal container and stir it carefully; it will get hot. Lye can burn your hands, so wearing rubber gloves and making an effort not to splash is a good idea. Let the lye-water mixture cool. Pour the olive oil into the enameled pot and heat it until it's 100 degrees. Once the lye-water container is cool enough for you to touch, pour that mixture into your enameled pot. Turn off the heat. Stir constantly but gently until the lye-water mixture and the olive oil combine. Here's where the hand blender comes in: Instead of just stirring with the spoon, you can cut down the stirring time by alternating it with periods of stirring with the hand blender. This speeds up the process of trace, or where the contents of the pot begin to resemble a thick pudding. A word of warning, however: Keep your hand blender vertical, or as much as possible. You'll save yourself a mess to clean up afterward.
- Once you've reached that magic pudding stage, pour the contents into the mold, which in this case is your airtight container. Wrap the container in a blanket, and wait for 12 hours before checking on it. In 12 hours, the mixture should begin to harden enough for you to tip the contents out and cut them into bars. Place the bars of soap on racks and let them dry for up to a month before using.
