Water You Waiting For, Activity?

If you're here, you know who I am, and why I do what I do.

I'm crowdfunding to purchase a portable water activity (Aw) meter.  It's as much for me as for the baking community at large. I'm more doing this out of the pursuit of knowledge than I am for any personal gain.

Water activity is one of the most unexplored concepts in naturally-leavened baking. I hope to shed light on the subject by doing in-depth bakery experiments on the relationship between fermentation, ingredients, and formulation in enriched sourdough systems. Aw values (once known), along with pH, can help offer predictable results for any baker wishing to create his or her own naturally-leavened enriched products.

My ultimate goal is to understand the limits of sourdough formulation in enriched dough systems; that is, how lean can a dough be before typical "flaws" (sourness; loss of product structure) present themselves? Understanding how varying levels of ingredients in dough systems modulate Aw offers one of the best ways forward for building accurate, descriptive models.

Any and all knowledge gained using the Aw meter will be "open" for all.

I will purchase either an AquaLab Pawkit Portable Water Activity Meter or a Rotronic HP23-AW-A Water Activity Meter depending upon the amount of money raised.

I really appreciate anybody who's taken the time to read this.

Ian