Hi Mari, you didn't mention your current feeding routine. Are you feeding once a day or twice a day? By weight or by cups? What ratio of ingredients? If you're following our starter recipe, you're likely feeding twice a day with a 1:1:1 ratio (starter:water:flour, by weight), and a typical feeding looks like this: 1/2 cup (113g) starter + 1/2 cup (113g) water + 1 scant cup (113g) unbleached all-purpose flour. While this method generally works well, it's not uncommon for the starter to get a bit stuck and not rise much at all for several days (or even weeks in some cases). This is particularly likely to happen if you experienced an early rise on day 1 or 2, which is most often caused by a bacterium that gives off carbon dioxide rather than representing the presence of yeast activity. Unfortunately, when this happens the yeast often makes a more delayed appearance. 

The good news is that patience almost always wins out when it comes to sourdough starters, and even if you continue exactly as you're doing now, eventually the starter organisms will fall into place and your starter will begin to rise predictably. One option is to simply reduce the size of your starter so that you're not using up so much flour as you wait for it to start rising. Once your starter is rising well, it's easy enough to build the quantity back to a larger size. Note that this size starter needs a smaller jar (an 8-ounce canning jar or jelly jar works well). 

If you want to take a more proactive approach, you could try this alternative feeding routine, which was developed by Microbiologist and sourdough baker, Debra Wink. This method increases the acidity of the starter, which seems to help encourage the yeast to join the party. Here's this feeding routine:

1. Feed only once a day.

2. Feed with wholegrain flour (whole rye or whole wheat). 

3. Feed with a ratio 2:1:1 (starter:water:flour, by weight). For example, for our normal starter routine your once a day feeding would look like this: 1/2 cup (113g) starter + 1/4 cup (57g) water + 1/2 cup (57) wholegrain flour. If you wanted to try a smaller starter version of this routine it would look like this: 30g starter + 15g water + 15g wholegrain flour. 

Once your starter begins rising predictably (twice), then it's important to resume twice a day feedings (which will help to keep the yeast more vigorous). You can also go back to feeding with your blend of AP and rye flour and increase the feeding amount back to something more like the 1:1:1 program we normally recommend. 

Once your starter is doubling within 6-8 hours after a feeding and has a pleasant aroma, then you're good to go! 

I hope this helps! Let us know how it goes! 

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