Hi Mary, adding commercial yeast to your starter will throw off the balance of sourdough organisms you are attempting to create, so I would discourage you from doing so. If you're seeing some rising, that's a great sign and patience almost always pays off. In the meantime you could certainly add some yeast to your sourdough bread recipes to make sure that the bread rises successfully. If you're worried about using up too much flour during the creation process, you could also consider reducing the size of your starter, at least until it's rising and doubling predictably. Our smaller starter recipe calls for maintaining only 60g of starter, which fits nicely in an 8-ounce jelly or canning jar. 

• Reply