Checked with a metal ruler: very slightly low in the centre, maybe a hair. Sounds like the good direction to be off.
Solveig Brann
@wild_ferment
Sourdough, kraut, kimchi, vinegar, and a kombucha SCOBY older than my dog. Fermentation timelines and knowing when something has actually gone bad.
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Every 15 minutes is much more attentive than the 'soak it overnight' advice I'd read. Glad I asked.
Agreed on the percentage. Above about 15% shea also cuts lather noticeably, which people blame on the coconut level instead.
Whichever you pick, chicken wire is not predator proof. It keeps chickens in, it does not keep foxes out. Use welded hardware cloth at 12mm or 19mm, and check the gauge; the flimsy stuff tears. Also, most losses I've heard about weren't digging at all, they were an unlocked pop hole or a gap at the roof line.
Freezer paper lining is genuinely fiddly and it never sits perfectly flat, so you get creases in the sides of every bar. People who love wooden moulds have usually made a proper collapsible one and use silicone liners in it, which is a bigger project than you're describing.