Experiments in Soap Making: Laundry Soap

In my pioneer post, I mentioned laughing with (at) us and learning from our mistakes.  Well I have one to share with you now.  A couple months ago when I first became interested in making my own cleaning products, I went out and purchased supplies.  Since then I've been (im)patiently waiting to run out of things.  I was so excited when we ran out of laundry detergent that I'm not sure it wasn't weird.

Slowly but surely I've been building up my arsenal of natural homemade products...with few successes.  A DIYer can't be afraid of failure.  If you're inclined to try any of these things yourself, I don't want to just tell you what works, I also want to tell you what doesn't work.

Did you know that you (probably) aren't buying soap at the store?  Read your labels.  It's not dish soap, or laundry soap, or bar soap.  It's detergent - dish detergent, laundry detergent, or just bar (beauty bar, cleansing bar).  These things can't be called soap because soap only results from the chemical reaction called saponification.  When distilled water, sodium or potassium hydroxide (lye) and fats and oils come together in specific ratios, they saponify, becoming something new - soap.  Detergents are synthetic foaming and cleansing agents that are cheaper to manufacture, hence their widespread use.

The first soap we (my sister and I) tried was laundry soap.  I'm not going to share recipes until I try things that actually work, but what we used in our laundry soap was a combination of grated Fels Naptha, castile, Borax (sodium borate), baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and washing soda (sodium carbonate).  Sodium, who knew?  Half of those things I had never heard of before and had a bit of an adventure trying to find locally.  Fels Naptha is a laundry bar soap that was developed in 1893.  I probably won't use it again because it contains fragrance and dyes.  Castile is soap that originated in Spain with references as early as 1616.  It is traditionally made from olive oil, but now refers to soap that is made from a combination of olive oil and other vegetable oils instead of animal fats (tallow and lard).  Borax, baking soda and washing soda are natural cleansers, deodorizers and water softeners.  

So.  We grated the soap.  Tim almost ate some, thinking it was cheese.  We melted the grated soap in purified hot water, whisked in the "dry ingredients," then slowly added an additional 2 gallons of purified water while continuing to whisk.  It's supposed to thicken overnight to a gel-like consistency.  What we ended up with was a 2 inch thick disk of rather stiff foam sitting on top of soapy water.  Going back to the comments on the blog I was using as a resource, I realized that where we probably went wrong was the whisk.  She uses a stick blender.  I didn't have one of those, but I do now, and I am once again (im)patiently looking forward to running out of laundry soap.  Our foam/water concoction still cleans, but it's a bit of a pain because you have to shake it well before use and try to get an appropriate ratio of foam/soapy water.

I love to learn.  I love to make things.  I love knowing exactly what is in the soap that is cleaning my clothes.  I also love saving money.  I spent about $15 for all the ingredients.  Our first batch made roughly 3 gallons of soap.  I have enough bar soap left for another 3 gallon batch, and enough of the other ingredients for several more batches.  We're talking pennies a load. 

I'll keep you updated on our progress.  Next time I'll try the stick blender.  After that, I'm hoping to try making my own laundry bar soap for the recipe, but that's another blog post for another day.

-Kendra

Start Now: Making Our Own Bread

I started pulling the thread.  Now the proverbial sweater that formed my worldview concerning food and health is rapidly unraveling.  I researched ethanol.  I read articles about soy.  I watched Food, Inc.  I became someone who reads blogs.  I became someone who writes a blog.  I realized that if it's manufactured and marketed on a staggeringly massive scale, it's likely that big money is behind it, and big money is more concerned about big money than it is our health.

I eagerly anticipate the day that we can move onto some acreage with our own well water, raising our own chickens, and growing more of our own food.  I daydream about someday possibly growing my own wheat to be milled into flour and then made into bread, sweetened with honey from our own bees - as much for the health and taste benefits as for the satisfaction of having produced it myself from start to finish.  But I don't want to just dream.  I don't want to "If only..."  So I'm starting now.  I want to start making all the changes I can right now, in this urban context, to reap as many benefits as I can as soon as I can, and to prepare for the transition to rural, sustainable living.

If you want to learn more about what may be in your supermarket bread, you can read this article: Why I Never Eat Commercial Bread.

If you are concerned and want to do something proactive about your health, you can try making your own bread.  If you want to rediscover and preserve a lost art you can try making your own bread.  If you just enjoy baking...try making your own bread.  

As much as I enjoy cooking and baking, I had never made bread before.  Bread intimidated me.  Kneading, rising, temperatures, yeast...it had an air of mystery and peril about it.  Then I tried it and it wasn't so bad.  I did what I often do when I want to make something I've never made before.  I went to food.com, searched whole grain bread, sorted by rating and chose the recipe with the best ratings.  I was very pleased with the result!  It was delicious and easy!  If you want to check out the original recipe, it can be found here.

I don't knead this bread, and it has a longer rise time which is supposed to neutralize phytates which are a source of debate as to their healthfulness.  Plus, it makes it super easy.

The first two times I made it, I used a fine flour and got light fluffy loaves.  The third time, I used a coarser, stone ground flour and it yielded heavier, heartier loaves.  Next time I run out of flour, I want to try purchasing wheat berries and grinding my own flour.

What you'll need:
 
2 ¾ c hot water
1⁄3 c olive oil, any oil is fine
1⁄3 c honey
2 T molasses
1 T salt, sea salt is good
7 ½ c 100% whole grain wheat flour
2 T dry active yeast

 

What you'll need to do:

Place the first five ingredients in the bowl and mix.

Add 2 c flour to cool the water and end up with warm dough 

Add 2 T of dry active yeast
 

 

Add 4 c of flour.  Mix until the consistency is somewhat even. If necessary, slowly add flour 1/2 c at a time until the dough quits sticking to the sides of the bowl. It should be tacky to the touch. The trick is to have enough consistency to stand up with the least amount of flour so the bread will be fluffy. It will most likely be 6 1/2 cups but in any case do not exceed 7 1/2 cups of wheat flour. Don't over mix or the bread will be tough.

When your dough is finished, cover the bowl and let it rise for about 30-45 minutes. The dough will be larger but it doesn't need to double.

 

Grease two bread pans with shortening.

Mix the dough again just enough to knock it down to close to the original size.

Drop the dough on a floured surface so you can work the dough and shape it. Shape it with your hands to make a nice ball, getting enough flour on it so it isn't sticky. Divide the ball in half and do it again. Shape the loaves by turning the dough under it's self over and over. When the dough is shaped the sides and ends will be sealed and all you will see is a nice oblong shaped loaf with smooth sides and top. Drop the loaves in your bread pans and let them rise until almost doubled. 

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 for 35 minutes. Loaves should be slightly browned and sound hollow when tapped.

When done turn the bread out of the pan to a rack to cool. 
Don't wrap it until completely cooled, as condensation will make it soggy.

Enjoy!!


-Kendra

A Paradigm Shift

Thanks, Linda for inspiring my next blog post!  I want to talk a little more about our vision.  The prevailing cultural paradigm about growing up is that children turn 18, go to college, and then make their own way in the world...perhaps never to return.  

Our multi-generational vision is a little different.  "Generational transfer" is one of the terms frequently used in our network of churches.  We believe in multi-generational families building a multi-generational church.  In fact, that was what our sermon was about just this morning...fathers raising sons who become heirs, becoming fathers who raise more sons.  It's a pattern we believe in.

It's not that we don't believe in college or leaving the nest.  I am a college graduate and the three oldest children in my family have each lived on our own and in other parts of the country separate from the rest of the family for a period of time.  Those were important times.  But ultimately my vision for my life is bigger than myself.  It includes my parents and my future grandchildren and beyond.  I "feel called" to build generationally with my family.

Lest I wax too philosophical, what does this mean for us when we house hunt?  I said in my first post that the goal was to live all together in one house.  Well, this is one of multiple options we are considering.  Basically we're looking for the situation that is right for our family's needs...whether that be two mobile homes, a house with a garage apartment, or one house that's big enough for all of us.  We don't know exactly what it will look like.  We're just trusting that whatever it is, we'll know it when we see it.  

These options are also the immediate goal as a means to an end, not the ultimate goal.  If we can live together sustainably and be prudent with our spending now, it will expedite the ultimate goal which is having enough land that all the sibs can have our own space and build our own homes someday...still ultimately living and working together.

I think we each have a sense that this is rare and special - that we like each other enough to want to live together...long term.  It's evidence of a generational blessing in our lives.  We as children get to reap the benefits of parents and grandparents who have served the Lord and sacrificed for the benefit of future generations.  We're grateful to reap the blessing and desire to continue serving and sacrificing for generations to come.

-Kendra