Don't understand
I am making Sourdough and I split the batch in half. I shaped individual sized baguettes with half the dough and a boule with the other half. There is no yeast or levian other than Herman, my starter. I was expecting about a 12 to 15 hour rise time because its cool here in So. Cal right now. I put the baguettes in the oven (turned off) to rise and just for giggles I put the boule in my ceramic dutch oven (with the lid on) on the counter instead of in a basket like normal. There is no difference in temperature between the oven and the counter. The baguettes have barely risen in the past two hours as I expected but the boule has already doubled in size. I have never had a sourdough rise so quickly without the addition of over the counter yeast to help. Can anyone explain why this would be?
The boule is one larger mass with a relatively small surface area to volume ratio, rather than two smaller ones with relatively high surface area to volume ratio like the baguettes, so the heat generated by fermentation is not so easily lost. And it is in a relatively small space (the dutch oven) instead of in a relatively large space (the oven), which also helps it retain heat better than the baguettes. I would guess that if you were to measure the interior temperature of the boule, you would find it is several degrees warmer than the interior temperature of either of the baguettes. Since yeasts, especially wild ones, are sensitive to temperature, those in the warmer environment are growing more rapidly than their brethren in the cooler environment.
Paul
Thank you, I was really wondering because all things being equal except for the dutch oven really had me wondering and by the way I baked them this morning and the boule was fabulous!!!!