Saw these elsewhere. Can't vouch for whether they work or not. Jessica Trainee, Breastfeeding Network London,UK BREASTMILK BREAD STARTER 2 1/2 cups warm (110 degrees) breastmilk 1 package (1 tablespoon) active dry yeast 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon sugar In glass or ceramic bowl, soften the yeast in 1/2 cup breastmilk. Stir in the remaining 2 cups breastmilk, flour and sugar. Cover loosely with a dish towel and let stand at room temperature until bubbly. This may take up to 10 days-the warmer the room, the quicker the fermentation. Stir 2 to 3 times a day. The starter will develop a strong "sour" odour as it ferments. When fermentation has occurred, refrigerate the starter until needed. To keep the starter going: After using 1 cup of starter, add to the remaining 3/4 cup of water or breastmilk, 3/4 cup flour and 1 teaspoon sugar. Stir well. Let stand at room temperature until bubbly, at least 1 day. Cover and refrigerate. If not used within 10 days, stir in 1 teaspoon of sugar. Repeat the addition of 1 teaspoon of sugar every 10 days. BREASTMILK SOAP ¼ cup water ¼ cup lye (NaOH) 1½ cups vegetal oil ½ cup cocoa butter 1 cup breastmilk Don't use metallic material, since it may react with lye. In a small bowl, add to lye to water (NOT water in lye). Mix well to dissolve lye. Let sit until it reach 115°F (like a warm bath). Mix oil and cocoa butter. Heat until 115°F- You can microwave 60 sec on HIGH. Add lye to the oil mix (DON'T use pour oil in lye). Mix until it takes a silky look- about 10 minutes. Add breastmilk, stirring slowly. The colour will change according the amount of fat in your milk, so each batch may have a different colour. Stir until the mix looks like instant pudding - between 45 minutes and 1½ hours. Pour into moulds - You can use almost anything you want; muffin tin is good start. You may want to oil moulds, or cover them with sarandrap or wax paper to make unmoulding easier. Let sit for 3 days then unmould - some people says to freeze the soap to unmould it, but it should really be avoid. Let cure in a dry place for at least 4 weeks. The more your soap will cure, the more neutral it will be. You can taste it (I don't mean eat it!) to see if it is neutral. This recipe will give you 24 oz (if you used muffin the you'll get 12 soaps.) NB: Lye can be purchase in some supermarkets or grocery stores but it is harder to find it today, since products like Drano are widely spread. You have to use PURE lye to make soap. Usually it is sale in a 12 oz can. If you can't find it in your area, you can always buy it from a chemical laboratory or a chemical supplies retailer, but many of them sell it in 50 pounds bags. With 50 pds of lye, you can make near 5,000 soaps!!! So I hope you'll be able to find a small can. A SHORT VERSION OF BREASTMILK SOAP Breastmilk Soap 2 cups vegetable oil (such as olive, coco, canola, cocoa butter, etc.) 1/4 cup water 1/4 cup lye (solid NaOH) 1 cup breastmilk Heat oil to 115°F. In a glass measuring cup, add lye to water. (Not water in lye). When the solution reaches 115°F, add to oil. Stir until the mix is silky; than add milk. Colour will change, it is normal. Stir until you instant pudding consistency (this is what we call "trace"), approx. 60 to 45 minutes. Pour in moulds. You can use almost anything, like muffin tin or cookies tray. Take care to not use metallic material. Let sit 2 or 3 days, until you can unmold soaps easily. You have to let your soap "cure" 4 to 5 weeks, until it becomes neutral. You'll get approx. 12 2-oz soaps. COTTAGE CHEESE 16 cups milk (breastmilk) ½ cup non-fat dry milk 1 cup buttermilk Salt, to taste Pour the milk into a 6 quart stainless steel pot. Stir in the dry milk. Set the pot into a larger pot, double boiler fashion, filling the larger pot with enough water to come up the side of the smaller pot about ½ of the way. Get the milk to 86°F: turn the heat on under the larger pot for 2 or 3 minutes, stirring the milk slowly. Then turn off the heat, not stirring and wait a few minutes. Check the temperature, and if it is not warm enough repeat the procedure. Add the buttermilk to the milk. Stir well. By covering the pot and checking the temp. a few times, hold the temperature at 86°F for 12 hours. This allows the curd to form. The curd should be custard like. Cut the curd into 1/2" pieces. Allow the cut curd to set for about 30 minutes to allow more of the whey to separate, keeping the temperature at 86°F. Then slowly begin to cook the curd until the temp. reaches 100°F. Use the same method of heating as before. Don't hurry the process; it should take about 30 minutes. Stir gently once in awhile for even heating and to prevent the curd from sticking together. This will also allow you to cut up any oversize curd. As the temp. rises, it will require more frequent stirring as it firms and separates from the whey. Remove curds from the heat as soon as they firm and reach the desired temp. Line a large colander with 2 layers of clean cheese cloth. Using a measuring cup, scoop out the curd into the colander. Allow to drain for several minutes, then rinse curd by immersing the cheese cloth & curd in lukewarm water. Allow to drain for several more minutes. Place drained curd into a large bowl. Sprinkle with about 1 tablespoon of salt and mix with hands to blend evenly. Put into a covered container and chill. When cool, taste for salt and add if needed. You'll get about 1 1/2 pounds. *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html