Basic Soap Recipes

This is the type of soap I make most often.

The beauty of basic soap recipes is that you can change your soap very easily by varying the fragance and color or by adding additional ingredients after trace to change the texture of your soap.

On this page you will find three recipes for basic white soap, one with a lard base, one with a beef tallow and one with a shortening or solid vegetable oil base.

Basic Lard Soap Recipe

This recipe will make make approximately 20 x 140 gram bars of general purpose soap. I use this recipe for the soap that I use everyday in the shower.

The soap has good moisturising properties and stable if somewhat subdued lather.

Ingredients

1000 grams of Lard
1000 grams of Olive Oil
256 grams of Caustic Soda (NaOH)
2.7 cups of Distilled Water

To make this soap follow the directions on the cold process soap making page.

Basic Beef Tallow Soap Recipe

This recipe will make make approximately 20 x 140 gram bars of general purpose soap. This soap is slight harder than the lard soap, has similar lather properties.

The soap also has good moisturising properties although not quite to the same degree as the lard soap.

Ingredients

1000 grams of Beef Tallow
1000 grams of Olive Oil
258 grams of Caustic Soda (NaOH)
2.7 cups of Distilled Water

To make this soap follow the directions on the cold process soap making page.

Basic Shortening Soap Recipe

This recipe will make make approximately 20 x 140 gram bars of general purpose soap. Like the soap made with beef tallow, this soap is slightly harder than the lard soap and has a slightly fluffier lather.

The soap also has good moisturising properties although not quite to the same degree as the lard soap.

Ingredients

750 grams of Shortening (Solid Vegetable Oil)
750 grams of Olive Oil
250 grams of Coconut Oil
237 grams of Caustic Soda (NaOH)
2.5 cups of Distilled Water

To make this soap follow the directions on the cold process soap making page.

Comparing the Basic Recipes

Would a graph help you to decide between these three opaque soap recipes?

Each basic soap recipe produces soap with different properties, although not significantly different.

If you are looking for a hard soap, use the shortening or beef tallow recipe. For the soap with the best moisturising properties, make a batch of lard soap.

If the 'fluffiness' of the lather is more important to you, the shortening recipe is the way to go, but if you want a soap with the most stable lather, select the recipe with a coconut oil base.

Recipes for Other Types of Soap

Glycerine soap recipes are similar to recipes for opaque soaps except there are a few additional ingredients and quite a few extra steps in the soap making process.

Solvents and or sugars are added in a specific way to turn your opaque soap mixture to a clear or transparent batch of soap.

Castile soap recipes do produce lovely soaps, but they can be a bit tricky as the batch will take a long time to trace and the cured bars can often be just a touch too soft.

In English speaking countries the term 'Castile Soap' is generally used to describe soaps made exclusively from vegetable oils, but some soap makers use the term to describe soaps made using Olive Oil only with no other fats or oils in the mix.