Yay! I can’t wait to try this one. Einkorn is my favorite of the wheat berries I have worked with. So far I’ve only done about 50% einkorn and 50% regular bread flour. I’m looking forward to this one!

I’ve never used freeze dried strawberries. Do you buy them freeze dried or do you buy fresh strawberries and freeze dry them yourself?

@Deborah Karaban Cheers and happy baking.

@Henry Hunter thanks, that’s valuable feedback.

@Henry Hunter here’s the crumb shot.

@Heather Lattanzio I am most interested in it for feeding my starter when I am away from home for more than a day or two. I keep my starter on the counter and feed it twice a day. I know I can put it in the fridge while I’m away, and have done that in the past, but I’m interested to see if this gadget will keep the starter more consistently happy during my absence. Of course it is pricy for just that use so I’ll let you know if it seems worth the price after I’ve used it for a while.

I received my Sourdough Sidekick and have used it for three bakes so far. I was skeptical at first because the starter didn’t look like much from the outside while it was in the feeding cycle but it did look nice and bubbly by the time it finished the process on the goal date/time, and my first two bakes went well. However, I still maintained my usual starter with twice a day feedings just in case. Yesterday I made a levain with the starter I have been feeding myself, so that I could do a side by side comparison with the levain made in the Sourdough Sidekick (second photo). The one on the left is the Sourdough Sidekick levain and the one on the right is the levain I made. The one on the left was noticeably more bubbly. I can’t compare the volume because I had the Sourdough Sidekick make 400g and I only made 200g. Things I’ve noted so far: 1) You need to calibrate the machine for the type of flour you are using but I found the instructions in the booklet to be a bit inadequate. I found a YouTube video that showed the process and that was a big help. My levain results have been a bit off from the amount I requested each time, so I just recalibrated the machine and we’ll see if I got it right this time. Once you get that sorted out you shouldn’t need to recalibrate unless you change types of flour (for instance going from bread flour to whole wheat). 2) I have always maintained my starter on the counter and fed it twice a day with a 1:2:2 ratio but it was always a concern when I’d go out of town for a week. I would put my starter in the fridge (except the one time I forgot to do that!) but it seemed like it took several days for it to get back up to speed and be usable again. One of the reasons I bought the Sourdough Sidekick was to be able to set it up a week ahead and have usable levain as soon as I get back home. It looks like that’s going to work just fine. 3) It does take up counter space and it needs to sit out all the time. Mine now lives next to my mill on my bread making work station. It’s working out okay for me but if your counter space is really limited it is something to think about.