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Summerhill Goat Milk Soap

Goat Milk Soap is perfect for those with sensitive skin and better yet you can make it at home. Learn how to make goat milk soap using our simple recipe. 

A staple product at every Farmer’s Market is goat milk soap. Usually available in an array of beautiful colors and scents, I always pick up a few bars for my mom. As she has aged, conventional soaps are too harsh for her sensitive skin and it’s a nice treat I know she’ll always enjoy and put to good use.

We discovered goat milk soap when the owner of Artisan Soapery used to live nearby. Katye bought goat milk from our farm to use in her goat milk soaps. She’d always bring us a few different bars as a gift, which I would pass along to my mom. Unfortunately for us, Katye moved to the East Coast. She was kind enough, however, to leave us with a basic recipe so we could try making our own. After all, we had an ample supply of goat milk on hand to experiment with!

Now every few months, a few of us at Summerhill Goat Dairy get together to make a batch of goat milk soap. We share it with our friends and family and my mom of course. We aren’t fancy, but we think our natural, simple soap is still amazing!

We begin by collecting our supplies.

Then we gather our ingredients. We usually make a double batch, but I’d recommend beginning with this smaller single batch for your first attempt!

This particular recipe is geared towards sensitive skin because it contains less coconut oil, which some people think can be drying. The soap has 5% Superfat – which means that 5% of the oils do not turn into soap. Instead, they are “floating” in the soap, keeping it nice and mild!

Supplies:

  • 2 large stainless-steel bowls (should fit in each other so you can put one on ice in the other –
    that’ll make sense soon enough)
  • 5-6 large glass measuring cups (2 or 4 cups each)
  • Digital scale
  • Large whisk
  • Several spatulas
  • Stick (immersion) blender
  • Protective gear: safety glasses, gloves, and a face mask when working with lye– even when there’s not an ongoing pandemic
  • Soap molds – you can use any silicone molds. We particularly love these Goat Soap Molds

TIP: Always use stainless steel, glass or plastic. NEVER aluminum as it will react with the lye.

Ingredients

  • 8 oz. coconut oil (24%)
  • 15 oz. olive oil (44%)
  • 11 oz. palm oil (32%)
  • 4.8 oz. lye
  • 5.6 oz distilled water
  • 5.6 oz Summerhill Goat Milk

How to Make Goat Milk Soap: 

The process: Cold Process Soapmaking.

Step 1: Prep

  • Gather all of your supplies and ingredients to get started.

Step 2: Make the lye mixture

  • Measure out the lye, distilled water, and goat milk by weight. Be sure the goat milk is very cold.
  • Fill the largest stainless-steel bowl with a layer of ice. Set the smaller bowl inside.
  • Mix the distilled water and goat milk together in the smaller bowl.
  • Very slowly, very carefully add the lye to the water/milk mixture whisking thoroughly throughout the process. If you mix the lye in too quickly, the milk will scorch. You do not want to experience this!
  • Continue whisking until all traces of the lye are gone.
  • This process takes a good 10-15 minutes.

Step 3: Measure out all the oils by weight

  • If any oils have solidified, be sure to fully melt and mix the entire container before portioning.
  • Allow the oils to cool below 130 before moving on to the next step.

Step 4: Saponification

  • Combine oils in a large stainless-steel bowl. (We use the bowl that contained the ice in Step 1 – be sure to dry it thoroughly first)
  • Slowly begin to add the lye mixture while stick blending the oils. Watch the magic happen as the oil and lye molecules create new soap molecules.
  • When the mixture has reached the Trace you desire, you can pour or spoon the soap into the molds.
  • Freeze your soap in the molds overnight.

Step 5: Cure

  • The next day, carefully remove the soap from the molds and let them cure in a dry, cool place for 4-6 weeks, turning occasionally until they are hard.

We’d love to hear about your soap-making experiences!

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