Homemade Laundry Soap

The Lord moved me to search out more frugal and healthful ways several years ago. The amount of chemicals we ingest and absorbed from our environment is alarming! I am seeking to reduce our families exposure to chemicals as much as possible. Also, the savings of homemade over store bought is a definate plus.

Here is the recipe we use.
4 Cups hot tap water
1bar Fels Naptha laundry bar( grated)
1 Cup Washing Soda
½ Cup Borax
Grate bar of soap into the pan you will use. Add hot tap water, soda and borax.
Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves( is melted) and the liquid becomes thicker.
Pour this mixture into a 5 gallon bucket, add 2 qts. hot tap water and stir well. Now fill bucket with cold water.
Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

I use 1/2 c. per regular sized load.

This laundry soap recipe can be doubled or even tripled.

Here is a cost break down:
Fels Naptha Soap- $1.25
Washing Soda .50
Borax .40
Total 2.05 for 80 cups or 5 gallons or .027 cents per load

Added point; graciously pointed out by a friend that this formula is "low suds" so works well for HE washing machines.



Homemade Bread( whole wheat) is another area to save and provide a more nutritious food.
Here is one of our family favorites;

Whole Wheat Bread

3c. very warm water( I use filtered)

1/3c. oil or melted lard

1/4 c. sugar

3 tsp. salt

1 egg( beaten)

3 c. whole wheat flour

1-1/2 tblsp active dry yeast

4-5 c. unbleached flour

Stir together water, oil, sugar, salt and egg into a large bowl. Mix yeast with 2.c. whole wheat flour and 2c. unbleached flour. Then add to liquid. Stir vigorously for a minute. Add remaining 1 c. whole wheat flour and enough unbleached( 3-4c.), one cup at a time, to make a soft dough. Fold out onto a well floured board or countertop. Knead for 8 minutes( yes the whole entire time if you want good texture) Place kneaded dough into a well greased( large) bowl. Let rise until double in size. Puch down and flip over, now let rise a second hour until double in size. Punch down and form into loaves( this recipe makes 3 large loaves), buns, breadsticks, etc..... Let rise again until double and bake in a moderate 325-350F oven until golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on. I typically brush with olive oil or butter to soften the top crust. If making into bread sticks brush with oil or butter and add seeds( sesame, sunflower, flax, etc....) and or cheese( cheddar, romano, even feta)before baking. Just be sure to watch items with seeds or cheese as the burn easily.

Enjoy!

I'll add a few more favorite bread recipes, such as sourdough( starter recipe included) and Birdseed Bread( a whole grain recipe)

Birdseed Bread

This recipe may be doubled or tripled if necessary( it would be a lot of dough to work with, so I just do batches)
Oven setting: 375F
Yield: 3 large or 4 medium loaves
4 c. warm water
2Tblsp. Yeast ( or two packages)
½ c. brown sugar or molasses ( I prefer molasses)
½ c. honey
½ cup oil ( canola is what I use)
4 tsp. salt( otherwise bread has a flat taste)
About 12 c. flour ( usually use unbleached white and whole wheat with a 4:1, white/wheat ratio
1/2c. Of any or each of the following wheat, spaelt, oats, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, barley, course ground corn meal, millet and any other grains you may have.
Boil the hard grains ( do not boil the sesame or sunflower seeds) in more water than needed until they are soft and chewy.
When draining the water from the boiled grains measure the water toward the 4cups needed for the recipe. This contain vitamins, minerals and gluten for the elastic power of the dough.
Cool grains and water before adding the following mixture:
Dissolve yeast in warm water, add molasses, honey, oil and salt. Stir well and add cooled grains and sesame and sunflower seeds. Measure flour into separate bowl. Add flour mixture to wet mixture, holding back about 2cups You’ll have to get in there with your hands and mix it well( messy part). Now flour counter or board heavily and knead dough until smooth and satiny with grains( about 8-10 minutes). Place in a large, well greased bowl. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm area until double. Punch down and repeat a second rise( this rise is not necessary, but helps give a finer texture to the bread) Punch down again and form into loaves, placing in greased and floured pans. (Dough can be frozen at this stage. When frozen place in pan, cover lightly and let thaw and then rise.) Let rise about 20 minutes. Bake for 10 minutes @375, then reduce heat to 350 for 30 more minutes. Bread will be a beautiful chestnut brown, and will sound hollow when “thumped” on the top. I butter the tops and place on a cooling rack for about an hour (Well, we may sneak some while it’s still hot ) Freeze cooled bread and when thawed it will be as moist and nice as fresh baked bread. ENJOY!!!!!!