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Cheesecake and waterbath.

post #1 of 6
1/6/12 at 8:11pm
Thread Starter 

I just discovered this site and hope to get an answer to something I've been wondering about since Dec 24th when I got a chance to finally make my traditional pumpkin cheesecake for Christmas after a few years "break". I used to make it in a regular gas oven and it always came out perfect. Then my oven broke and I have now replaced it with a countertop convection oven. Baking the cheesecake in it poses some challenges  since fitting a pan large enough to hold the water for the waterbath and the springform pan is a bit tricky.

 

I managed it eventually and the cheesecake came out OK but not as good as in the old gas oven. What I noticed was that the section above the waterline set a little denser than that below, which was more fluffy. I prefer the cheesecake to be dense so this led me to wonder:

How crucial is the waterbath? Can cheesecake be made without the waterbath entirely?

 

The other thing that happened was that the top of the cheesecake toasted faster die to the closeness of the springform to the heating elements. I did lower the heat and the cooking time a bit since I was using the convection feature for it, but still got the slightly toasty top. Not sure how to avoid this except for perhaps covering the springform with tin foil for the first 1/2 hour. Any ideas?

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post #2 of 6
1/7/12 at 5:28am

I am not an expert baker but I can safely say that I have made cheesecake without a water bath numerous times.  I cover the cheesecake with foil for the duration of the cooking and it always comes out.... exactly how I like it.

In a nutshell
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post #3 of 6
1/7/12 at 9:17am

With average convection ovens you can just place a separate smaller pan with hot water in the oven on a rack below the cheesecake. I personally start the cheesecake in a cold oven and then shut it off at the end to cool down without opening. Works great.

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post #4 of 6
1/8/12 at 1:00am

you said you were using the convection feature for it. if you can use your oven without the convection feature then don't use it for cheesecakes. if you bake your cheesecakes at 300 or below and shut off the oven 15 minutes before they are ready

and let them sit then you shouldn't have a problem; even without the water bath.

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post #5 of 6
1/8/12 at 10:14am
Thread Starter 

Thank you everybody for you suggestions. I will experiment see what works best.

I'd rather do it without the waterbath anyway, because no matter hom many layers of foil I wrap around the springform some water always seeps in and makes my pecan crust a bit wetter than it should be, so avoiding water all together would also adress that issue.

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post #6 of 6
2/9/13 at 2:05pm

I had the same problem with seeping into my pans after they got a little wear on them..in other words warped a bit...So I now buy leakproof spring form pans. Nordic makes one that they sell at WalMart for $10..nice pan. There are some really nice German pans on Ebay also. 

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