Zucchini bread problem, Help Please!!

[Gloria]

I'm making zucchini bread and every time I do the middle of it sinks. Can anyone give me any ideas on why and how to fix it? Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

[lovemychix]

I make it all the time....maybe cook it a little longer. Also try using smaller pans and making smaller loaves.

 

[mangled]

What size pan are you using?
How full are you filling it?
Can you post the recipe?

Thanks-
Em

 

[silkiechicken]

Can't bake or cook, but perhaps increase flour or decrease baking soda/baking powder? Rationale in my inexperience is more flour = stiffer and less baking soda/powder = less rising/holes in which it can later sink into?

I know when my mom bakes fluffy cake things, she hangs them all upside down to cool.

 

[joebryant]

First I want to say that if I were your husband and you messed up the zucchini bread, I'd divorce you. I love zucchini bread more than any other sweet. So if you have any hopes of ever getting and keeping me, CLEAN UP YOUR ACT.
***
Since this is the time of year when nobody dares to leave their car windows down if their neighbor is growing zucchini in his/her garden (they plant it in the spring and spend all summer trying to kill it), I thought I'd put Anne's recipe for zucchini bread in the Recipe File area.
BTW, being the great chef and connoisseur of zucchini bread that I am, I taught her how to work out the recipe, and I am her consultant. I have had lots of zucchini bread, but hers truly is the best I've ever tasted.
Okay, would you at least believe that I help her get rid of every morsel?


Anne Bryant's Zucchini Bread Recipe
#1. MIX TOGETHER
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
3 (plus) cups grated zucchini (not peeled) - use food processor*
(*If using frozen zucchini, squeeze out liquid)
#2. MIX DRY INGREDIENTS TOGETHER AND ADD TO #1
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
#3 ADD
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup coconut
******
Pour into two greased and floured bread pans or one 9"x13" pan.
Bake at 325 degrees for 65-70 minutes until done.

 

[Gloria]

Sorry Joe, usually it turns out perfect. The last few times it has sank in the middle though. I don't know what I'm doing different, that would be causing this to happen.

My recipe goes like this and I'm using, I think, 8" loaf pans.

2c. sugar 1tsp salt
3 eggs 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla 2 tsp baking soda
2 c. shredded zucchini 2 c. flour
1 c. veg. oil (I'm using canola) 1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Mix dry ingredients together than add to the rest. Bake at 350 for 1 hour in greased pan.

I put it in for about 40 minutes because 1 hour is way to long and it starts to burn. It fills about 1/3 of my pans. 2 loaves.

 

[Rosalind]

Are the edges of the bread getting browned? I'm thinking here that your oven is letting you down. Is it one of those fancy ovens, or maybe very elderly? The older ones tend to run hot, so everything gets cooked on the outside but not evenly cooked in the middle, thus creating sinkage. The fancy ovens that are supposed to cook faster sometimes do really wonky things to recipes. Can you put a thermometer in the middle of the oven and see if it's getting up to temp?

 

[Gloria]

Thanks for your help guys! Yes it is an older model stove. I was thinking I will try lowering the temp because I think it is too hot. The recipe says bake at 350 for one hour. So I'm going to try 325 and see if that helps. I'll have to get an oven thermometer to check it though. Wish me luck! I'm also going to try your recipe too, Joe. Sounds yummy!