Technique · Swirl
Hanger Swirl
A bent wire pushed down through the batter and pulled up again, once lengthwise and once across. The most reliable swirl in cold process and the one that most rewards doing less.
RBase recipe to pour into
| Oil | Share | SAP |
|---|---|---|
| Olive Oil | 45 % | 0.134 |
| Coconut Oil (76 °F) | 25 % | 0.183 |
| Palm Oil | 2 % | 0.141 |
| Castor Oil | 5 % | 0.129 |
| Cocoa Butter | 5 % | 0.137 |
| Oil bill | 1 % | 140.2 |
| NaOH to weigh | 141.6 g | NaOH @ 99 % |
|---|---|---|
| Water to weigh | 330 g | 2.35 : 1 |
| Superfat | 5 % | Lye concentration 29.8 % |
| Yield | 9 × 163.5 g | Cure 5 weeks |
Reference bands follow the usual cold-process targets; the marker turns orange when a figure sits outside its band.
TTechnique notes
What the wire is actually doing
The hanger is not stirring. It is displacing batter: as the wire travels down it pushes batter aside, and as it comes up the batter closes behind it, dragging the colour bands into curved paths. That is why the speed matters as much as the pattern — a wire pulled up in two seconds leaves a straight slot that closes unevenly, and one pulled up in eight seconds leaves the swirl too soft to read.
Four seconds for a 9 cm mould is the number that works for a medium trace. A thicker batter needs a slower pull; a thinner one needs a faster one.
Two passes, not five
The single most common mistake is going back for a third and fourth pass because the first one did not look like much. It never looks like much while the batter is still liquid — the pattern only appears on the cut face, and by the time you have done four passes you have mixed the two colours into one.
One lengthwise pass at 4 cm spacing, one across at 8 cm, and stop. If the loaf is 25 cm long that is six passes down and three across, and that is a complete hanger swirl.
Both colours at the same trace
The two jugs have to be the same thickness. Thinner batter flows around the wire faster, so a jug that is half a minute behind will produce channels that are wider than its neighbour's, and the swirl goes visibly lopsided from one side of the loaf to the other.
Bring them to medium trace together: blend in short bursts, alternating jugs, rather than finishing one and starting the other.
Add at trace
- 3 g activated charcoal in 20 g water for the dark portion
- 1 g titanium dioxide in 5 g oil for the pale portion
Equipment
- Digital scale to 0.1 g
- A wire coat hanger bent into a U, with the hook straightened out
- Two jugs
- A loaf mould at least 9 cm deep
When it goes wrong
- The wire snapped off inside the loaf
- Coated garden wire or a coat hanger with a rusted joint. Use bare steel and check it before every use; a wire that has already been bent straight twice is a wire about to break.
- The swirl is tight at the top and barely visible at the bottom
- You stopped the wire short of the bottom, or pulled it out too fast so the lower batter had no time to close around it. Down to 5 mm from the base, and four seconds to come up.
- The two colours are almost the same grey
- Too much hanger movement. Each additional pass mixes the two colours further. Two passes is the recipe: one lengthwise, one across. A third pass turns it grey.
MMix
- Make the base and split it roughly 55:45 into two jugs at emulsion. Colour the larger one with the charcoal and the smaller with the titanium dioxide.
- Bring both to a medium trace separately. They must be the same thickness — if one is thinner it will flow around the hanger differently and the swirl will be lopsided.
- Pour them into the mould at the same time, one from each hand, in alternating bands down the length. You are not aiming for neatness here; you are aiming for an even distribution of the two colours through the whole depth.
- Tap the mould down twice to release the big bubbles.
- Hold the hanger vertically and push it down through the batter until it is 5 mm from the bottom of the mould. Do not touch the bottom.
- Pull it up in one smooth, slow movement — about four seconds for 9 cm. Then move it 4 cm along the mould and repeat, in the same direction every time.
- When you reach the end, rotate the mould 90 degrees and pass the hanger through once more across the width, at half the spacing. This second pass is what turns a set of stripes into an actual swirl.
- Tap the mould once more and insulate for 24 hours.
CCut
- Unmould at 30 hours and cut at day 3. A hanger swirl shows its full pattern on the cut face, so the cut is where you find out whether it worked.
- Nine bars at about 118 g. Cut them all before you judge: the swirl changes character along the loaf, from a tight chevron at the poured end to a loose loop at the other.
- Wipe the blade between cuts. Black batter smears onto pale batter very easily and a single drag ruins the contrast on that bar.
CCure
- Five weeks. The swirl is structural and does not change during the cure beyond the usual deepening of the black.
- One thing worth knowing: a hanger swirl leaves the batter slightly compressed along the paths the wire took. If you look at a cut face in raking light you can just see the wall of each channel. It fades by week three and it is a good way to tell a hanger swirl from a drop swirl on someone else's soap.
What matters here
- The wire displaces batter, it does not stir. Pull slowly — about four seconds for 9 cm.
- Down to 5 mm from the bottom. Stopping short leaves the swirl flat at the base.
- Two passes: one lengthwise at 4 cm, one across at 8 cm. A third pass turns it grey.
- Both jugs must be at the same trace or the swirl will be lopsided.
- Cut the whole loaf before judging. The pattern changes along its length.
Questions that come up
- Can I use a plastic hanger or a silicone spatula handle?
- A plastic hanger is too thick and pushes too much batter, so the channels become wide and the swirl coarse. A metal hanger is around 2 mm and that is the right diameter. If all you have is a thick tool, increase the spacing.
- My hanger swirl came out as stripes. Why?
- Either you skipped the second, crosswise pass, or the batter was too thick for the wire to displace anything. Both give parallel lines rather than a swirl.
- How do I clean and store the hanger?
- Rinse it under hot water immediately, dry it, and store it straight. A hanger left bent in a drawer will develop a fatigue crack at the bend and break inside a loaf.
Next on the bench
Cold-process soap is made with sodium hydroxide: goggles, gloves and ventilation, and keep the batch away from children and animals. Inspect the wire before every use — a broken wire in a loaf means throwing the whole batch away.