Goat milk and egg yolk soap

2015 Update: Check out my YouTube video where I make goat milk soap from scratch ... :)

PeskyChicken's Goat Milk Soap Video

Original Blog Post:

I've been making a lot of goat milk soap lately so I thought it was about time to post a soap making update. I've modified my recipe slightly so I can make bigger batches of soap. Plus I've added egg yolks to the recipe ... I haven't actually tried a bar of this new soap yet but I expect that I will be happy with the results.

My new ingredients include:

2 pounds lard
2 pounds coconut oil
2 cups goat milk
4 egg yolks
0.6 pounds of lye crystals
Scented oils

It's a very simple list of ingredients ... nothing fancy. If you want to add other oils the following link will help you determine the amount of liquid and lye you will need.

http://www.thesage.com/calcs/lyecalc2.php

I add the lye to frozen goat milk (frozen in ice cube trays) to obtain a cream coloured soap. Add the lye to the frozen milk in small amounts and stir constantly. Once the milk has completely melted, and the lye is dissolved, set aside for use later.

Lard comes in 1 pound boxes so I simply drop two bars in a large stainless steel pot.

Next, weigh out 2 pounds of coconut oil using a standard kitchen scale. Add the coconut oil to the pot and heat the lard and oil slowly on low heat. Once the oils are completely melted remove the pot from the heat and leave the pot to cool to 100 F.

While the oils are cooling you can prepare the egg yolks. The rule of thumb is to add 1 egg yolk per pound of oil.

My eggs come straight from under the hens so the yolks are warm and drain nicely. If you are using eggs from the fridge you may want to let them warm up to room temperature first.

You only want to add the egg yolk ... not the egg yolk sack. Carefully hold the egg yolk in your hand and puncture the yolk sack with a sharp knife. Allow the egg yolk to drain into a bowl.

Once the oils are cooled down to 100 F you can start to temper the egg yolks so they don't end up getting cooked. Slowly add a little bit of the oil mixture to the egg yolks. Whisk and repeat several times until the egg yolks are well mixed into a cup of oil.

Add the egg yolk mixture to the larger oil pot and stir well.


Finally, slowly add the lye solution to the oils and mix using electric beaters.

I find that it takes about an
hour or more to get the oils to trace.

Once the oils trace, pour into your soap molds and leave them for a day to set. After the soap has set you can remove it from the mold, cut them into soap bars and leave them to cure for about 6 weeks.

Soap making is a bit of an effort but the results are well worth it.