Recent content by blueginkgo

Same for me. TD dispersed in water and hand stirred into batter, whether with a spatula or whisk, produces very little color change. The same amount mixed in with a stick blender almost instantly shows a much lighter color.

Beautiful. Woodgrain bars are on my to do list.

I used insulation board to turn one of those inexpensive white shelving units with doors into a gelling cabinet. I set the shelves fairly close together, lined the spaces with insulation board on the back, sides, bottom, and top with a sixth loose piece for the front that the door would hold in...

They were most likely talking about leaf lard vs. plain grocery store lard. Leaf lard is made from the flaky fat around the kindeys and abdomen while plain lard is made from all the rest of the fat on the pig. Leaf lard is supposed to be better in cooking, especially in pie crusts and such. In...

Fabulous soaps. I love the distrubition of color in both batches.

After about 15 years of not making sourdough I'm working on getting going on it again. This time I'm trying a no discard method found here . This youtube channel (Bake With Jack) is one I have found very informative. Jack presents his information in short clips in an easy to follow manner, he's...

That is a stunning bar of soap.

I use an ice cream spade for scooping out my oils. They're sturdier than portioner style scoops and work well even on cold hard oils. https://www.amazon.com/Adcraft-SPA-8-Overall-Length-Stainless/dp/B004NG9FK8/ref=sr_1_11?dchild=1&keywords=ice+cream+spade&qid=1585957445&sr=8-11 Another of my...

Excellent! Blues and black together are one of my favorite golor combos.

Truer words were never spoken. No discoloration = white to fawn. Discolors to light tan = light tan to milk chocolate, almost always the latter for me. The best FO I use for making a white bar is Vetyver from Brambleberry. For me it actually makes soap that is whiter than the same recipe with...

I thought I'd thrown these away but just found them hidden in my supplies closet. These bars are the oddest result I've ever had in making soap. They were made back before Christmas and were my second batch ever using individual molds. Just like the first batch of individual bars they were...

My guess is a drop swirl with a quick chopstick swirl like Future Primitive frequently shows on her youtube channel.

Two loaves poured yesterday and cut today. The red and white is a straight up peppermint. The green and natural is a blend of lemongrass, ginger, and spearmint that I call Bangkok. Usually the bottoms of uncut loaves are really kind of meh to me, but the Bangkok bottom always gives me a happy...

Love the swirls on that OMH. I say let the hanger go where it may, often the unplanned results are the best.

My bath bar log molds are 4" wide x 2" deep, kind of like a tall and skinny flipped on it's side to make a short and squatty. I cut these at 1 1/8" to yield a 5 to 5 1/2 ounce bath bar. I also find that the shorter 2" bar is an easier to grip size than taller bars.