Hi Minji Cha, you didn't mention how your starter is behaving in terms of rising, so I wonder if something about your current feeding routine is causing the yeast to become sluggish. How many room temperature feedings is your starter getting prior to baking? After baking, do you feed your starter and then stick it right back in the refrigerator, or let it sit out for 2-4 hours so it begins fermenting prior to refrigeration? If your starter tends to collapse significantly between feedings, this will lead to sluggish yeast, so adjusting your room temperature feeding routine may be necessary. To promote more vigorous yeast activity it's helpful to feed your starter twice a day at room temperature for a few days prior to baking, taking care to replenish (feed) the starter when it's at its peak of rising, or just beginning to fall. Since temperature also plays an important role in the rate of fermentation, you can tweak the ratio of ingredients in your starter to make the timing work better for you and your starter. For example, if your starter tends to peak after only 4 hours, waiting another 8 hours before you feed your starter again is not ideal. On the other hand, feeding your starter every 4 hours isn't practical. In this case, you can slow the rate of fermentation by offering your starter a relatively larger feeding. Rather than going with our regular sourdough maintenance routine which calls for a 1:1:1 ratio of starter, water and flour by weight, reducing the percentage of starter as compared to water and flour fed (1:2:2, or even 1:3:3) will slow down fermentation, and hopefully allow you to refresh your starter when it's closer to its peak. Or, say it's very cold where you live and your starter takes forever to reach its peak, placing your starter in a warmer spot will definitely help speed things up, but you may also find increasing the percentage of starter as compared to water/flour fed will also increase the rate of fermentation. When adjusting the ratio of ingredients in your starter, keep in mind that it's not necessary to double or triple the amount of flour you normally feed your starter when offering a larger meal. Rather, you can reduce the percentage of starter. So, if you normally save 1/2 cup (4 ounces, 113g) starter and feed this 1/2 cup (4 ounces, 113g) water and 1 scant cup (4 ounces, 113g) flour, a 1:2:2 ratio could involve reducing the starter portion to 1/4 cup (2 ounces, 57g). 

Paying attention to how long it takes for your starter to reach its peak, or just begin to fall, isn't only useful when it comes to timing your feedings; this is also the point where your starter is considered "ripe," which is the ideal time to add it to your bread recipe. As I mentioned above, temperature and the composition of your starter will both affect the time it takes for your starter to ripen, so this amount of time will vary significantly from one starter to the next. Getting to know your starter and how it behaves after being fed at room temperature is likely the key to improving the rise in your sourdough bread. 

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

Barb

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