Hi Christina, we're sorry to hear you're having difficulty getting your sourdough starter to rise! It's not uncommon for sourdough starters to go through a lull in rising that begins around day 3-4 and can continue for several days (or even weeks in some cases). This is especially likely to happen if you noticed a burst of rising early on in the process. This early rise is caused by a type of bacteria that gives off carbon dioxide, and doesn't represent true yeast activity. Unfortunately, the presence of this bacteria seems to be assoicated with a subsequent delay in the wild yeast kicking in. If you think this might be what's going on with your starter than you have a few options:

1. Patience almost always wins out when it comes to sourdough starters, so you could continue exactly as you're doing and eventually your starter will begin to rise predictably. The fact that your starter is bubbling a bit and thinning out are both good signs that it is heading in the right direction. If you're concerned about how much flour you're going through, you could consider maintaining a smaller starter, at least until your starter begins to rise. Our smaller starter recipe fits nicely in an 8-ounce canning jar and a regular feeding looks like this: 20g starter + 20g water the 20g unbleached all-purpose flour. 

2. If patience isn't your strong suit, then you consider adopting a revised feeding plan recommended to us by microbiologist and sourdough baker, Debra Wink. This method is meant to increase the acidity of the starter environment, which seems to help encourage the wild yeast to join the party:

*Feed only once a day. 

*Feed with whole wheat flour or whole rye flour rather than unbleached all-purpose. 

*Feed with a ratio of 2 parts starter : 1 part water : 1 part flour (by weight). For example, your regular feedings with our sourdough starter recipe would become: 1 cup (113g) starter + 1/4 cup ((57g) water + 1/2 cup (57g) wholegrain flour. If you wanted to do a smaller starter version of this feeding routine a feeding would look like: 30g starter + 15g water + 15g wholegrain flour. 

Once your starter is rising predictably (twice) with this method, then it's important to return to twice a day feedings (which will further promote yeast activity). You can also shift back to the 1:1:1 (starter:water:flour, by weight) feeding routine we recommend in our sourdough starter recipe, and gradually, over the course of several feedings, transition from feeding with wholegrain flour back to unbleached all-purpose flour. 

Once your starter is rising predictably with the AP flour and twice a day feedings, then you should be good to go! 

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

Barb

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