Sourdough is old-fashioned. Wild yeast. Natural fermentation. The opposite of commercial bread. So it sounds weird to bring a gadget into the mix.
But the Sourdough Sidekick — backed by King Arthur Baking Company — automates the boring part: starter management. It feeds your starter flour and water on a set schedule so it’s ready exactly when you want to bake. You focus on kneading, shaping, and the actual baking.
It’s a joint project between FirstBuild (GE Appliances’ innovation hub) and King Arthur. It launched on Indiegogo in March 2025 and now costs $179.99. US only, unfortunately.
Here’s how it works. Drop 15g of starter into the crock. Fill the dispensers with flour and water. Tell it when you want to bake and how much starter you need. It drip-feeds on a dynamic schedule that accounts for local temperature. I tried it with white flour — worked great. My bread actually came out overproofed because the starter was more active than what I usually manage.
There are catches. You need to bake at least twice a week for it to make sense. The glass crock and lid aren’t dishwasher-safe. It’s noisy — 30 seconds of whirring every two hours. And the Auto mode has odd limits: set a bake day four days out and it insists on making at least 400g of starter, way more than a single loaf needs.
Still, if you bake sourdough regularly and hate managing starter, this thing does its job. I just can’t see myself buying one. My kitchen’s too small for single-purpose appliances.
