Hi Henry, are you in the process of creating a starter from scratch, or is this a fully mature starter that you are attempting to revive? If you're working on creating a starter from scratch, it's quite common for the starter to go through a lull in rising, particularly if you happened to see an early rise on Day 1 or 2. This early rise was most likely caused by a bacterium that gives off carbon dioxide, rather than the wild yeast. Unfortunately, the presence of this type of bacteria seems to be associated with a subsequent delay in the yeast kicking in. The good news is that patience almost always wins out when it comes to sourdough starters. However, occasionally this delay can go on for quite a while, so there are a few alternatives you might want to consider. First, you can reduce the size of your starter, so that you're not using up quite so much flour while you're waiting for it to start rising. Once your starter is rising consistently, it's easy to build the quantity of starter back to the normal maintenance amount we recommend in our sourdough starter recipe. 

If you'd like to take a more proactive approach, you could try this alternative feeding routine which was suggested to us by microbiologist and baker, Debra Wink, who has found that increasing the acidity of the starter seems to help pave the way for the wild yeast. This method looks like this:

1. Feed only once a day.

2. Feed with whole wheat flour rather than unbleached all-purpose. 

3. Feed with a ratio of 2:1:1 (starter:water:flour, by weight). For example, for our regular starter recipe your once a day feeding would look like this: 1/2 cup (113g) starter + 1/4 cup (57g) water + 1/2 cup (57g) whole wheat flour. A smaller starter feeding would look like this: 30g starter + 15g water + 15g whole wheat flour. 

Once the starter begins rising (doesn't have to double) two days in a row, then it's important to resume twice a day feedings (which will help keep the yeast more active and vigorous. At this point you can also return to the 1:1:1 (starter:water:flour, by weight) routine, and gradually transition back to using all-purpose flour over the course of 3-4 feedings. 

Once your starter is doubling consistently and has a pleasant aroma, then you can consider your starter mature and ready to bake bread! 

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