Easy Soapmaking For Lazy People Who Don't Like to Stir

Easy Soapmaking For Lazy People Who Don't Like to Stir
AKA "Hot Process Oven Process"

Many soap recipes, in fact, most of them, tell you to cook the soap on your stove, which requires some stirring, more stirring, stirring again, and just when you think you're done, keep stirring bud!  The whole point of stirring is to speed the chemical reactions, and make sure that it completes evenly.  It also ensures that the heat is evenly transferred to all of the mixture, and if you aren't using a double boiler, ensures that you don't burn or scorch your soap!

Some people like the stirring, because it really feels like you're "making" something.  I don't.  I have things to do, and when I first made soap with olive oil, it took 45 minutes to bring the mixture to "trace", which is the point at which the chemical reaction begins.  It splashed everywhere, and I was basically glued to the stove, mixing with a stick blender.

Not any more!  Someone clever, and perhaps a little lazy, has discovered that soap can be just as easily cooked in the OVEN, as it can on the stove top!  Plus, it requires pretty much zero stirring, only once every half hour or so to get things going.  Here's how it works.

Hot Process Oven Process Soap Making

1.  Set your oven to 175 F.  Most recipes will cook just fine at this temp, and it will (mostly) prevent soap from boiling over.  The first time I tried this, I set the stove at 225, but this is too high, and my soap did boil over.  Nice mess, and it was not much fun to clean up!

2.  Mix your oils, melt any solid oils, and stir in your lye mixture.  This will work for liquid (Potassium Hydroxide) or bar soap (Sodium Hydroxide).  Give it a minute of initial stir, just to get things going.

3.  Put your non-aluminum, oven safe container into the oven with a lid on top, and leave it for 1/2 hr.

4.  After the first half hour, a minute of blending with a stick blender will bring an immediate trace, check on the pot every 1/2 after that for about 3 hours.  The last hour, I usually let it sit without too much stirring.  It will get to a very thick, mostly translucent stage that seems like vaseline.  This is pretty much the end, but you can test it by dissolving a bit in water to see if all the fatty acids are reacted away.  The water will be pretty clear if the reaction is complete.

5.  Moving quickly, spoon the mixture into your mold, and let it cool.  Once cooled at bit, it can be unmolded, and cut into bars.  It will be easier to unmold than cold process soap, and is ready to use immediately!

At some point in the future, I will be switching to a number of large slow cookers, which will accomplish about the same as an oven, but it will be easier to check on and stir.