I am pleased to address an email I received from Joanne Cambell:

“I have a lemon bread recipe which was given to me from a family friend. Every time I make the recipe it sinks in the middle. Do you have any suggestions as to what I might be doing wrong?”

Well, I consulted with my answer lady, mentor and cookbook author, Jean Anderson (who has a section in one of her cookbooks, The New Doubleday Cookbook, on just such thorny issues). Her first guess is that there is too much sugar in the recipe. Other possible causes include too much shortening, too little baking powder or just underbaking. Try cutting down on the sugar and see what happens.

Your turn. Send me your peskiest culinary problem and I’ll do what I can to help you solve it.