All sorts of things might be the problem....you will have to figure it out.
Might be too much liquid in the recipe, you may not be baking long enough....but most likely you are using white lily flour for things that need more gluten in the flour.....try something like King Arthur flour.
Linda C

Thanks for the suggestions. I do use KA flour. I'm careful about baking time: I use the time given in recipes as a guideline but check for doneness and adjust as necessary. The same for the liquid; because of the humidity here, I sometimes adjust the liquid. When I catered in CA, many years ago, I didn't have this problem but have noticed it for the last few years. Doesn't seem to matter whether I'm using white flour or something with more fiber. Everything just shrinks. Anything else I should check?

Do you test your baked goods for doneness? Testing with a toothpick or broom straw in the middle of the cake or muffin to see that the toothpick comes out clean with no batter clinging to it is one way. Pressing lightly with your finger to see if the top springs back up is another. Also, I look to see if the bread/cake/muffin batter has pulled away slightly from the side of the pan or muffin tin cup.

I rather doubt that the lack of A/C and humidity of the South is the problem. (I know whereof I speak!) But it could be your oven or not allowing sufficient baking time that causes the recipe to fall.

Hope this helps!
Teresa

Some more possibilities:

-Damp flour. If you purchase flour in a paper bag and leave it in the bag during use/storage in a damp environment, it could be absorbing too much moisture. When cakes noticeably shrink, it can be from damp flour, too much sugar or insufficient baking time. Store your flour in an airtight container or canister rather than the paper bag you bought it in.

-Old flour. Flour will keep for 6-12-months at room temperature (70-degrees F) and will degrade faster when stored at higher temperatures. You will find you get poor baking results if you use old flour.

-I would also suggest testing the oven temperature with an oven thermometer. Shrinking is a sign of low baking temperature. Make sure you are preheating your oven. You never want anything leavened with chemical leavening to wait for the oven temperature to get hot enough. Baking powder reacts twice, once when it is mixed with the liquid ingredients, and again from the heat of the oven. If your oven isn't up to baking temperature, you will miss that last heat-related reaction.

-Over-mixing. For quick breads and cakes you need to keep mixing to a bare minimum once you mix the wet and dry ingredients together, so you don't develop too much gluten. Volume drops considerably if you over-mix dough/batter. I find the best tool for mixing quick breads and batters of all kinds is a Danish Dough Whisk, not a hand-held electric mixer or a stand-mixer. If you are beating the batter using a mixer until it becomes stringy, then it's been over-mixed.

Hope there is something there that helps....

-Grainlady

Sinking might mean the middle isn't cooked. I think your oven temp might be off. If you find that things look done before the time called for in the recipe, it could be running high, otherwise low. Have you checked it with an oven thermometer?

The first thing I would do is check your oven temperatures, as has been mentioned. If that's OK, then I'd start a checklist until I found the problem, I guess.

I can second the vote on the danish dough whisk, Renee sent me one, and a second one for the Princess, it's great for muffins and quick breads and whisks through tough cookie dough too, a great and relatively inexpensive tool.

So, if your oven is good and you are checking your baked goods for doneness, the next thing I'd check is the flour to be sure it's fresh and dry. If that's not the problem, I'd try mixing less and see if that helps.

You might check your leavenings too, make sure your baking powder is fresh, your yeast is good, etc.

I doubt that it's the heat or the humidity, as many cooks here have baked goods turn out fine in the south. Elery's sister lives in Tennessee and her cakes, muffins, cornbread and biscuits, etc., come out fine.

It may just be a matter of adjusting to your environment and your new oven, having been used to California and a different stove. Good luck!

Annie

Thank you, thank you all, and a special thanks to Grainlady because I think you may have hit on the problem. My flour is in paper bags, and I bake so much, I generally just leave the bags on my baking table rather than transferring it to a canister.

Obviously the flour's not old, nor are the leavenings. I do test for doneness. I usually use a toothpick/straw, but I've been so desperate to solve this that I changed to touch testing on the theory that maybe the pick was deflating the foods :P

I will check my oven temp; I know it doesn't heat evenly and I have to rotate baked goods, but I haven't gotten around to actually digging out the thermometer.

I'll check all the suggestions I haven't already tried, but I'm pretty sure it's the flour in paper bags. Thank you all!

What you should do is get cooking thermometer put it in the oven,you may think say 250 degrees so you bake say 30 minutes but if your oven is off a few degrees its not baking normal makes sense Id start there/.

My first reaction was that you may be over mixing/beating. That alone will give the shrunken result you're having. Other suggestions seem good too, but watch out for over mixing.

The only time I have had that happen was when I tried to use artificial sweetener instead of sugar.

This is probably not your problem.

Unless you make adjustments, baking in a high altitude area can cause collapsing in your baking.

dcarch

I'm in North Carolina - which might be north of you but is still in the South! I keep my flour in glass jars, glass cannisters, or plastic sealable cannisters. I keep my whole wheat flour, wheat germ and grains in the fridge or freezer. Curry powder, paprika, and cayenne pepper reside in the fridge to keep bugs out of them. The iced tea is kept in the fridge also. I'm making a lot of tea lately as the temps have been over 100 F the past week.

Teresa

When Are Baked Goods Done?

Checking with an instant read thermometer is generally more accurate than other methods.

-Layer cakes - 205-210-degrees F.
-Pound cake - 210
-Jelly Roll - 190-195
-Muffins - 210
-Quick breads - 210
-Yeast bread - 195-210
-Sweet - enriched breads - 180-190
-Soft sandwich bread - 195
-Bundt cake - 212
-Yeast rolls - 190-195
-Pumpkin pie - 175

-Grainlady

Thanks again for the suggestions. Aside from the flour in the bag and testing the oven temp--and the high-altitude adjustments which, since I'm at sea level, I don't think applies--I think I've tried most of them.

Soonergrandmom, interesting information. I don't use artificial sweeteners, but I do sometimes use natural apple juice or Poulner's All Fruit in place of sugar depending on who I'm baking for. I'll watch that, but since the shrinkage occurs regardless of what kind of sweetener I use, I don't think that's the main problem.

Annie and Grainlady, I'd love to try that whisk. I'll look for one the next time I'm shopping.

Teresa, over 100 is awfully hot for you "up" there, isn't it? We've been over 100 every day since summer officially began, I think. I hadn't considered keeping spices in the fridge, but since you mention it, I'll do a bit of research on that, too. (The tea's already there--keeping it cold reduces the amount of ice we go through :)

I very much appreciate everyone's help!