What lye has to do with bagels and soap! (2024)

FAQs

What lye has to do with bagels and soap!? ›

Well yes, lye can do that but did you also know it is used to make bagels? Some bakers will dip the bagel in a lye solution as it speeds up the process that creates the distinctive bagel crust and taste.

The secret to the perfect bagel is a subject of heated discourse. After trying bagels from New York City to Seattle, we can tell you one thing: it's not the water source; it's the baker (see page 183). We found that a lye solution produces a superior crust that's just brittle enough to give way to the chewy crumb.

Lye is a caustic that today is most often used as a drain opener (and is one of the key ingredients in Drano.) Although it sounds like a horrible addition, it's a necessary ingredient for making handcrafted soap. It's used to saponify the oils, or chemically change them from oil into lovely soap.

Why Is Lye Used in Baked Goods? Lye and other alkaline solutions are used to encourage Maillard browning. All the reactions responsible for the dark toasty notes we love in bread crusts and steaks happen faster in alkaline environments, and this is why doughs are dipped in lye solutions before baking.

Lye water is an ingredient used in Asian and African cooking for cooking meat, rice or noodles and vegetables like corn, beans, maize or okra to soften or add flavour or keep vegetables colour. It is usually added as part of the recipe in small amounts (spoonfuls).

“It's really caustic.” So his home recipe instructs the baker to boil the bagels in salted water. (A Times reporter revised his recipe in 2012 to include baking soda, a common alternative to lye.)

To make the lye water for use in most recipes (such as for Mooncakes), use a ratio of 1:4 (1 part baked baking soda : 4 parts water). So if a recipe requires 1 teaspoon of lye water, simply mix 1/4 teaspoon of baked baking soda with 1 teaspoon of tap water.

NO, chemically-speaking, soap itself cannot be made without lye. Soap is made by blending oils (like olive oil or coconut oil), a liquid (water, goat's milk, etc.), and an alkali (lye). Lye is needed to convert oils into soap.

Is lye harmful to humans? Lye is highly corrosive and can cause eye damage and burns to the skin.

Contact with very high concentrations of sodium hydroxide can cause severe burns to the eyes, skin, digestive system or lungs, resulting in permanent damage or death. Prolonged or repeated skin contact may cause dermatitis. Repeated inhalation of sodium hydroxide vapor can lead to permanent lung damage.

Can baking soda replace lye in soap? ›

You could also replace lye with baking soda to make your own soap. We'll take you through these recipes step by step and give lots of tips about how to customize your soap. Pretty soon you'll have high-quality soap bars without ever having to break out the safety gear to handle lye.

Lye is used for purposes as varied as baking, soap-making, and cleaning, to dissolving animal tissue. Primary lye uses include: Soap making: The most common use of lye is for making soap and cleaning agents. Technically, a soap without lye is not a soap as defined by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Inhaled sodium hydroxide can cause swelling of the larynx and an accumulation of fluid in the lungs. Stridor, vomiting, drooling, and abdominal pain are early symptoms of sodium hydroxide ingestion. Ingestion may lead to perforation of the gastrointestinal tract and shock.

So in the case of bagels, imagine a ringed pretzel situation but that are boiled in a lighter lye bath, then baked. For making bagels as with any recipe it is up to your preference. Typically I'll add either a cup of ash-made lye water to 2 quarts of boiling water or a teaspoon of granulated lye.

Once lye-dipped pretzels are baked, they're totally safe (and delicious!) to eat.

Lye is a caustic substance that can certainly damage your skin if you're exposed to it. It can cause a number of problems, such as burns, blindness, and even death when consumed. But, and this is a big but, soap that is created with lye (which is all real soap) will do absolutely no harm to your skin.

Sometimes lye (sodium hydroxide) is added to raise the pH of the crust, which promotes browning and caramelization during the bake (this is identical to how pretzels are given their signature flavor and appearance, though in the case of bagels the concentration of lye used is much lower).

Lye water is used to raise the PH of the dough (neutralize the acid in the syrup). It also helps to gain an appetizing brown colour after baking and a fluffy tender texture.

When the fats come into contact with the lye, a chemical reaction called saponification takes place. This occurs when the triglycerides (fat) and lye are combined and react to form fatty acid metal salts (the soap) and a soap byproduct (glycerol).

Lye has a pH of around 13 whereas baking soda has a pH of around 8. This extra alkalinity accelerates the Maillard reaction, allowing that caramelization to develop on the exterior of the pretzels. That ultra deep color and slightly crispy, crunchy exterior crust is only made possible with lye.