Tips on lining molds

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I've gone through several feet of freezer paper trying to find a method of lining my new wooden molds while aiming for a nice flat fit and crisp tight corners. I don't want to have to plane my soap - because I stink at it. Does the weight of the soap batter help eliminate some of the slack in the paper?
 
In my relatively limited experience, folded paper takes up more space than layers of paper, and the batter does not change that. The flattest method I've seen is with 5 pieces of paper: 1 piece has the corners cut out so it perfectly covers the bottom and goes up the sides, and the other 4 pieces wrap inside the sides at the corners between the larger piece and the mold. The pieces are sealed flat to each other and at the corners with a saturated fat such as lard.
I realized relatively early that my recipes firm up quickly, so now I just use a silicone mold. But, if I wanted to do a recipe I thought would stay soft a while, I would line using the above method. I would probably seal it with petroleum jelly, hydrogenated soybean oil, or Shea butter though, because I virtually never have lard on hand.
 
I've gone through several feet of freezer paper trying to find a method of lining my new wooden molds while aiming for a nice flat fit and crisp tight corners. I don't want to have to plane my soap - because I stink at it. Does the weight of the soap batter help eliminate some of the slack in the paper?
Lenarenee, no, the weight of the soap won't change the slack in the paper. What you see is what you get when your soap comes out, creases won't magically disappear. I cut slits to the corners and fold what's left to the inside overlapping, I end up with 3 layers on the ends. I very rarely get creasing, don't plane my soap and don't rush lining the mould. Mine is done in one piece.
 
I line mine in two pieces when I use it. One width and one length and up the sides. I still had issues with perfect soap but it was better than anything I tried. I don’t have a lot of patience. That’s what made me bite the bullet to silicone lined molds. My slabs I still have to line.
 
Shunt's way has less wrinkles in the soap surfaces. I do it both ways, however, depending on which mold I am using and how thick my batter is when I pour it, and certain design elements.

For a very thin batter and one of my molds that can leak (yeah, bad, huh?) I fold so there is nowhere for the batter to leak out. Just to be on the safe side, because I had that happen once.

If I will be titling the mold and using thin batter, such as when doing flat tilted layers or a chevron-type design, I have no choice but to use folded corners to prevent the thin batter from leaking. Either that or just use a silicon mold.
 
Look at Elly’s Everyday On YouTube she explains really well on how to create the perfect parchment paper lining.

I've gone through several feet of freezer paper trying to find a method of lining my new wooden molds while aiming for a nice flat fit and crisp tight corners. I don't want to have to plane my soap - because I stink at it. Does the weight of the soap batter help eliminate some of the slack in the paper?
I use the method explained by Elly’s Everyday and the end are getting better when I use her method which is one piece I trim away excess from the ends now to reduce bulk and folds. I also added a folded piece for the bottom that extends over the ends that I just used to lift out my loaf. Here is a picture of what it looked like
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CE932401-FB5F-44C5-B834-A3FFD252C92D.jpeg
 
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@Misschief made a short video of how she uses a template for lining her molds with freezer paper. It is post #36 in this thread. I gave up trying to use freezer paper very early on and invested in a wood mold with a silicone liner, but if I were to try to line something now, this is the method I would try.
 
I make my own molds which need no lining, but I have one wooden slab mold a dear old friend made me years ago, complete with slide off lid. It holds what is to me a monster of 10lbs of batter. I've found the best thing to line this mold is Glad Press N Seal using the two sheet method described by @shunt2011 . Very few to no wrinkles and the few that do appear are barely noticeable. I did find the learning curve on using it to be rather high, because it sticks to itself, and my first attempt ended with me throwing the wrap across the room...LOL But, after a nice cup of tea, all was well. I'm not crazy about the amount of plastic it wastes, but I don't use that mold very often. Oh, and I've also used the method by Elly's Everyday, which I sometimes use for lining bread pans, and found it worked really good for soap mold lining too when I first started out.
 
I use the method explained by Elly’s Everyday and the end are getting better when I use her method which is one piece I trim away excess from the ends now to reduce bulk and folds. I also added a folded piece for the bottom that extends over the ends that I just used to lift out my loaf. Here is a picture of what it looked likeView attachment 49723View attachment 49724View attachment 49723
Very interesting, I shall try this method next time!💃
 
@Misschief made a short video of how she uses a template for lining her molds with freezer paper. It is post #36 in this thread. I gave up trying to use freezer paper very early on and invested in a wood mold with a silicone liner, but if I were to try to line something now, this is the method I would try.
I use @Misschief method and it’s brilliant! Thank you for sharing! I’ll spend about 45 minutes making a couple dozen of them and then I’m good for weeks...just grab one and pop it in the mold! Genius idea @Misschief
 
I've gone through several feet of freezer paper trying to find a method of lining my new wooden molds while aiming for a nice flat fit and crisp tight corners. I don't want to have to plane my soap - because I stink at it. Does the weight of the soap batter help eliminate some of the slack in the paper?
There are a number of tutorials on YouTube. Here is a link for one of them.
 
@Misschief made a short video of how she uses a template for lining her molds with freezer paper. It is post #36 in this thread. I gave up trying to use freezer paper very early on and invested in a wood mold with a silicone liner, but if I were to try to line something now, this is the method I would try.
I use @Misschief's template idea too. I don't use freezer paper though - it's very expensive here, sold by the metre at the craft shop (apparently used for quilting or something). I just use our baking paper roll that's in the kitchen and it's fine.
 

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