Scaling down levains, "mass effect"

I've always hated throwing out mountains of starter every day (like all of us), and have scaled at least somewhat back from time time, though doing a starter & following a formula.

I recall Hamelman talks about doing the full amount and not scaling down (don't recall he mentioned why), and now I see Rubaud said the same. I don't recall seeing it in Prof. Calvel's Taste of Bread, but I need a closer read.

It's ascribed to "mass effect." Could someone talk about the concept - is it a significant issue? What exactly is it (or more, why is it)?

I always thought it was down to inherent measurement errors when going down that far.

Paul

First, a thought, maybe if ya don't make so much you won't have to throw any out. I never had a problem with "mass effect" - which i think is a joke towards those who follow the norm and end up with a large mass of starter and nothing to do with it, and if it isn't it would be a good one!

On a more serious side. See my first sentence. Enjoy!

Came to something on it, Michel Suas:

"If mixing a small batch of dough, add approximately 20 percent extra

time for first fermentation to compensate for a lower mass effect (refer

to Chapter 4, page 109 to understand the mass effect)."

***

"Mass Effect." The quantity or “mass” of dough allowed to ferment also
plays a role in strength, with a larger piece of dough increasing in
strength faster than a smaller one. The chemical reactions happen faster
in larger masses of dough, creating a better environment for microorganism
activity. This is what we refer to in the baking industry as the “mass
effect.” Mass effect is particularly important to consider when adapting
formulas developed for home baking to a production environment, and
vice versa. For smaller batches of dough, up to 6 lb (2.724 kg), longer fermentation
time may be necessary, while larger batches of 50 lb (22.7 kg)
and more require slightly shorter fermentation time."

Can anyone explain the rationale behind the phenomenon? And whether they have experienced this in scaling significantly down?

Perhaps it's because of self-heating of the dough during fermentation?

I agree with Ilya, because fermentation itself creates heat, a larger mass of fermenting dough/levain/starter will generate more heat and that will cause it to ferment somewhat more quickly than a smaller mass.

Benny

That seems spot on! Thanks a lot guys. It can't be anything other than anecdotal (because I didn't set it up purposefully at all and didn't control for anything) but I am running Calvel at full mass and Rubaud at 1/4 mass, so it might at least be interesting to observe. I'd like to go back and do one at full and one at significantly less and otherwise make everything identical. I'll post the setup and results (and if there's anything I miss in terms of design, very receptive to your expertise).

Much appreciate your posts.

Paul

This may or not be interesting, but I can say that my "Rubaud" levain, having seemingly settled out, shows virtually no difference between a very low mass "Levain 1" (27 grams) and my maintenance levain (1/4 his standard levain, totaling 205.25 g, which includes .25 g salt). Twice at least, taking each at 6 hours fermentation, they were extremely close. Minutes ago, I measured the Levain I growth at 2.6, and the same obtained with the maintenance levain (with the latter getting a touch more out to a few decimal points, but there's no way I can't ascribe accuracy that far - measurement error alone prevents it).