Handmade Sourdough Soap – for bakers

When I got dermatitis in 2012 I thought that I was going to have to stop baking. My hands were so sore that I just couldn’t shape the bread. Flaking skin and rawness was not just painful, it was unsightly and I was at my wits end. I had to wash my hands often working as a baker and with food. It was being shown round Neals yard cheese that the MD shoed me a cheese that had been handled by someone who had washed their hands with aniti bacterial and there were two hand shaped dead spots on the cheese like glove marks where the microbes on the cheese had literally died. The cheese was no good, and in that moment I realised that the anti bacterial soap I had diligently been using was killing my own protective microbes, and what, I wondered might be doing to my bread? We have left over bread after classes so I started experimenting. It took me year to make a sourdough soap making goats milk, sea salt and sourdough breadcrumbs. It takes a long time to make soap, and as they cured I stumbled across The Raw Soap Company. They have their own heard of goats and use sustainable and local ingredients to produce beautiful, high quality soaps. So I called them and hurrah … we both thought that we could team up to produce this creamy soap made with our very own sourdough breadcrumbs. From the moment I swapped to the goats milk soap my hands started to heal. It took a month and I’ve not had a single flare up since.

To be fair the soap is far nicer than anything I made. It is richer and beautiful. The natural moisturising power of goat milk, combined with the exfoliating breadcrumbs, leaves your hands feeling cleansed and softened. It’s great for using in the kitchen, and helps prevent dry skin caused by frequent washing when you’re busy cooking. The eco-credentials don’t stop at the soap itself. Each bar comes wrapped in compostable packaging and is an environmentally-friendly alternative to a plastic bottle of liquid hand wash.

* Please make sure you leave your soap in a dry spot between washing or, like all real soaps, it will go soft if left in water.

Ingredients: Sodium Rapeseedate, Caprae Lac, Glycerin, Avena Sativa Kernel Flour, Aqua, Sodium Beeswaxate, Maris Sal

Minimum soap weight: 120g