Uncategorized – More Than Sugar

Finally, the perfect way to bake a cheesecake (so far)

My basic cheesecake recipe gets praise that I have to accept as I am not a big fan of cheesecake so not the best person to rate cheesecakes. What I have found is many people like cheesecake that isn’t as dense as many traditional “New York Style” cheesecakes. My basic recipe yields a cake that is a bit creamier due to the addition of heavy cream and baking it to a lower final temperature (145-150 F/ 63 – 66 C). See my article on use of a temperature probe to constantly monitor baking temperature.

Once I got the recipe sorted out, I would sometimes get cakes that ended up with a crack. A crack doesn’t affect the taste but isn’t visually appealing. So, my journey to figuring out how best to bake a cheesecake that consistently came out without a crack began.

Most of the suggested approaches utilize a water bath to surround the cake while it is baking. My first attempts at this used aluminum foil to create a barrier between the water the cake pan. Needless to say, not every time did I get the foil just right to keep out water. The crust would get a little soggy.

To avoid this problem, I purchased a silicone wrap that works perfectly to keep out water.

While I got less cracks, even when I got the foil right or used the wrap, I would still get a crack occasionally.

Next were directions to control the cooling process. Some recommended turning off oven and cracking the door open with a wooden spoon and allow the cake to cool slowly. Still got a crack occasionally.

One reason I think is the cake remained in the water bath so was still “baking” since the water was hotter than the cake. Taking pan out of water bath helped a little bit but didn’t markedly change the crack occurrence.

Another suggestion was to free up the cake from the sides of the pan so that as it cooled the cake was free to contract. Run a paring knife around the edge to free it from the sides. Still got a crack occasionally.

The light at the end of the tunnel was when I considered what the water bath was doing. Water when it boils holds its temperature at 212 F (100 C) until all the water has turned to steam. The water bath is intended to slow the rate and final temperature of the cake while it is baking.

Most of the recipes that included using a water bath baked the cake at 325 (163 C) or 350 F (177 C). If the water bath is doing its primary job of controlling the rate of the cake baking and can’t go above boiling point why not just lower the temperature of the oven. My thought was why not go to about the temperature of boiling water and do away with the water bath?

With that in mind I did some researching to see if others had considered this. I found a few recipes that lowered the temperature to 300 F (149 C) and just a few that said take it all the way down to 200 F (93 C). Some recommend a period of time at a very high temperature (450 F / 232C)) and then lower to 200 F (93 C).; tried that and got the biggest crack I have ever gotten.

My process now uses 200 F (93 C) as the baking temperature for cheesecake and no water bath. I monitor the cake temperature using a temperature probe (see article). With the temperature probe no need to open oven, set a timer or guess when the cake is done.

So far baking at 200 F (93 C) for the entire time yields a creamy cake with no cracks. For my convection oven I set it on convection and 225 F ( 107 C) which the oven adjusts to 200 F (93 C). When the cake reaches 145 F (63 C) I turn off oven and take the cake out. Allow it to cool to room temperature, put in refrigerator over night and then take it out of the pan next day. If you like your cake a bit firmer you can raise the final temperature a few degrees.

One thing I have noticed is if the cake has a topping such as cookie pieces you may still get small cracks adjacent to the cookie piece. One thought is to leave them off until the cake cools and then put them on top.

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Cheesecake

It took a long time before I baked a cheesecake. Primary reason is cheesecake isn’t my favorite dessert or at least the ones I had tried didn’t taste or have a good mouth feel. Many were very dense and lack much in the way of flavor. It was strange on one level in that I love pretty much any kind of cheese. I also enjoy bagels and cream cheese.

But I got requests for cheesecake from my friends and family so I started looking for a recipe that I could in good conscience make.

I wanted something that was more than just a plain cheesecake and being a fan of Oreo cookies I found this recipe (I don’t recommend the recipe as posted though)

But in reading the comments I realized that this basic recipe would result in a cheesecake that was one that I wouldn’t like. Going through the comments and searching other recipes I modified the recipes by adding heavy cream, some sour cream and more vanilla. Here is my basic recipe.

In making the cheesecake some lessons I learned about mixing, preparing the crust and how long to bake. If you have read my other posts you know I can’t do things simple.

The first thing I discovered was the importance of bringing ingredients to the right temperature before mixing. We revisit “room temperature”. Many recipes mention “softened” or “room temperature” for the cream cheese without indicating what that really meant. Room Temperature for many recipes is based on butter and is in the area of 65 F (18C). But this turns out to be too cool for cream cheese. Mixing things with the cream cheese at this temperature resulted in a heavy batter that didn’t mix well, prone to lumps and didn’t pour very well.

For better mixing getting the cream cheese to at least 75 F (24C) or warmer will result in a much easier time mixing. In researching recipes some of warm the heavy cream, sometimes to boiling, before pouring it into the bowl with the cream cheese. If you built my room temperature refrigerator you can adjust the temperature up to 75F (24C) temporarily to bring the cheese to a good “room temperature”, just remember to return it to 65 F (18C) for normal baking ingredients.

Adding the cream and sour cream make things mix better and greatly contribute to the flavor and mouth feel. By mouth feel I am looking for something that is a bit creamier and smoother and not as dense as many cheesecakes I have tasted in the past.

A big factor contributing to how dense a cheesecake turns out is the final temperature the cake reaches. Most recipes call for baking the cake until the middle still “jiggles” or is “just set”. Since these terms are subjective, I had to find a means to quantify them so I get the same results each and every time.

I found several discussions on what temperature to bake the cake to. Many referenced between 145-155 degrees (63C – 68C). So, I used my trusty Thermowork Instant thermometer to check the middle of the cake. This means that I have to open the oven and poke the cake with the thermometer. Since most of the time I would be checking before it gets to the target temperature that results in multiple pokes and multiple door openings. Door openings dramatically lower the temperature of the oven each time it is opened which means the cake goes through wild swings. And people will ask about all the small holes in the middle of the cake.

So as with my room temperature refrigerator to get butter to the right temperature I needed to find a solution that kept the oven door closed and still report the temperature. In a separate posting I’ll detail how I did that.

Cracking of the cake is a regular comment when researching cheesecakes. The most common solution is a water bath that the cake pan sits in. The challenge is doing that without allowing water to leak into the cake pan.

There are three techniques that work, from least effective to most effective.

Wrap the pan with aluminum foil, you have to make sure you form it high enough up the outside and that you don’t create a break in the foil that allows water in. Best to use at least two layers, put one layer on at a time. About one in five times doing this I’d get some water in the cake pan.

Next option is to use a plastic roasting pan bag. These bags from Reynolds work well. Just pay attention to the highest temperature permitted, which is 400 F (204C). If you are careful you can reuse the bags.

The best solution for a water bath is to use a Cheesecake Wrap designed for Cheesecake pans. This one fits the cheesecake pans I have from Lloyd Pans. There are others that fit different styles of cheesecake pans.

With any of the above solutions I use a 12″ round cake pan to put the cake pan in and then surround with water. But any large pan will do.

The temperatures to bake cheesecake are all over the place. Some have you start at 450F (232C) or 500F (260C) for 10 – 20 minutes and then lower it to 325 or 300 or 200 or ???. Most seem to be 325-350 (163 – 177C) for the whole time. I didn’t have much luck with the start high and then go low. At the moment I set at 325F (163C) and then stop when the middle of cake gets to 145F (63C), turn off oven, crack door with a spoon and let it cool. Most of the time I don’t get a crack. I have some upcoming experiments to see what some changes I have in mind that might give better results. I’ll update you with the results.

Once cooled put into the refrigerator overnight, take out of pan, cut and serve.

In my next post I’ll go into how I measure the temperature of the cake without opening the oven along with some other tips.

Basic Cheesecake

Basic Cheesecake

Jim K

A simple cheesecake recipe that is a good tasting recipe by itself or a base to embellish.

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Servings 12

Ingredients

Filling

750 Grams Brick Cream Cheese Softened to 75 F (24C)
149 Grams Sugar
2 Teaspoon Vanilla
3 Ea eggs, room temperature
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream 115 Grams
2 Tbsp Sour Cream 30 Grams

Crust

1.5 Cups Graham Cracker Crumbs
1/3 Cup Butter, melted
1/3 Cup Sugar

Instructions

Crust

Heat Oven to 325 F (163 C)
Use a food processor to grind crackers into fine crumbs
Place crumbs and sugar in bowl.
Add butter; mix well.
Press firmly onto bottom of 9-inch spring form pan.
Bake for 8-10 minutes if desired, crust works fine baked or unbaked, personal preference. Allow to completely cool before next step
Fit pan with silicone cheesecake water bath wrap or wrap pan with aluminum foil along with plastic roasting bag to prevent water bath getting to pan.

Filling

Beat cream cheese, sugar, heavy cream, sour cream, and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended.
Scrap bowl and beater, check for lumps, mix again if needed. Some hand mixing may be needed to break up lumps.
Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.
Bounce bowl on counter a few times to get rid of air bubbles.
Pour over prepared crust
Place pan in 12 inch cake pan and fill to halfway mark with hot water.
Bake 45 min. or until center is almost set. (145-150 degrees in center)
Cool.
Refrigerate 3 hours or overnight.
Cut into 12 pieces.
Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.

More about temperature and the Snickerdoodle quest

I’m back. That was a bit longer break than I planned.

Now that I have consistent temperature ingredients to start with using my Room Temperature Refrigerator the last temperature related issues for my Snickerdoodles was dough and oven temperature.

In the winter time as I mention my house is kept in the low 60’s (15-20 C) which works out quite nicely for most of my cookie recipes. The dough is easily scooped into a cookie scoop (Number #40 is the size I use most) and is easily released from the scoop. In the summer time though my house is in the higher 70’s (24-27 C) which especially for my Snickerdoodle recipe makes the dough a bit loose and harder to release from the cookie scoop. Cookie tends to spread a bit more when baked too.

To address this, I will toss the dough in the regular refrigerator for about 20 minutes to firm up the dough. Ideally, you would put the bowl back in the refrigerator in-between batches in the oven to keep the dough firm and take it out when ready to get another tray ready. But that adds a lot of time to the process. My solution is to put a cold pack like used for sports injuries under the bowl and if the room is warm one under the trays while they are waiting to go into the oven.

Place the cold pack in a bowl that is a little bit larger than the mixing bowl so that when you put the mixing bowl in it the cold pack wraps up the side some. To prevent freezing your dough store the cold pack in the refrigerator instead of the freezer.

If you have room in the refrigerator you can stage your prepared trays in there while waiting to go in oven.

Several sites discuss the benefit of “aging” cookie dough in the refrigerator and how it changes the taste and texture of the cookie. Here are two links that discuss the topic. In the future I’ll try it out to see the difference.

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2015/05/17/chilling-cookie-dough

https://www.thekitchn.com/refrigerated-cookie-dough-268281

The next temperature to control is the oven.

The temperature of ovens can vary widely from the overall temperature to spot temperatures within the oven. It is not unusual for an oven’s temperature not to match the temperature on the oven dial. And within the oven the temperature can vary widely from upper to lower rack and front to back on the same rack.

So, the first thing I did was to check that the overall temperature matched the oven dial setting. There are cheap oven temperature gauges you can get but I am skeptical that they measure accurately. So, I went for the best and also one that I can use for other tasks. The digital thermometers I have found to work the best are from Thermoworks. The thermometer I use is the Chef Alarm you will need to add the High Temp Air Probe.

These are the tests I performed on my oven.

Put racks on the upper middle and lower middle levels. Attach the grate clip to the upper rack in the middle left to right and front to back. Insert the air probe into grate rack and attach to Chef Alarm. Turn on Chef Alarm. Set oven to 375 F (190 C). Allow oven to stabilize. Compare temperature. If temperature is off check your oven manual to see if you can adjust the oven temperature reading. If not note how much the temperature is off and adjust accordingly when baking.

Repeat with grate clip on lower rack (don’t burn yourself, make sure to either use appropriate oven mitts or wait for oven to cool)

Repeat with grate clip in back of rack, front of rack, left of rack and right of rack.

To address the variation from top to bottom and front to back most recipes recommend switching trays from top to bottom and rotating the trays front to back. That means with cookies you are basically opening and closing the oven about every five minutes. Opening the oven gives a wide temperature swing and more than once I have knocked or tipped a tray messing up at least some of the cookie on that tray.

The difference between up and down can also be addressed by figuring out how much time each rack needs and time accordingly. So, we take one tray out early leaving the other to finish.

All of these steps require a lot of time keeping. Thermoworks has a great timer that I recommend for general time keeping but even with that there is a lot of times to track.

For most of my ovens in the houses I have lived the temperature front to back isn’t that significantly different so to avoid all the time keeping and switching of trays I baked one tray at a time. Takes longer but cookie process was easier to follow and resulted in good cookies. Less of a problem if you have double ovens.

one tray at a time lasted until I got to buy a new oven, it is a convection oven and now I can bake two trays at the same time with both trays going and coming out at the same time. There is a slight temperature difference between racks but not enough that anyone notices which rack a cookie was baked on. I’ll go into my convection oven in the future but for now if you are replacing your oven highly recommend getting a quality convection oven.

My routine for oven temperature is turn oven on at least 30 minutes before the first tray goes in. This gives the oven walls time to heat up and stabilize helping reduce swings in temperature. I’ll quickly put both trays into oven, kick off my timer and wait until the timer goes off. I avoid opening the oven if at all possible, using the door window and light to check things. Once I know how long a cookie takes, I rarely look.

When I take the cookies out, I don’t put new trays in just yet. I close the oven and start my cookie cooling timer (usually 2 minutes). When it goes off, I put the next set of trays in the oven. The cookie cooling period lets the oven get back to temperature. My theory is the act of taking trays out of the oven and putting new trays back in one event lets the oven temperature go way down. Letting the oven get back to temperature before putting in the new trays results in less of a temperature swing due to the door opening and closing.

At this point I was getting respectable cookies. The next things I worked on was improving the overall process to make it go smoothly. This involved equipment such as cookie trays/sheets, cooling racks, timer, measuring etc. I’ll cover that in the next articles.

More Than Sugar

There are two reasons for picking “More Than Sugar” as my tag line. The first is so many baked goods overdo it with sugar or some other ingredient to make up for a poor base. More frosting than cake, more chocolate than cookie. At some point a cookie with too much chocolate becomes a candy bar with bits of cookie. A snickerdoodle buried in cinnamon can’t make up for a less than eatable sugar cookie underneath. I strive to bake items that have flavors in balance.

The second reason is I will wander at times and cover things not related to baking. I’m a home owner and do much of the work on my house so I might cover a new tool or home improvement project I am working on. I also dabble in woodworking and gardening, do some hiking, enjoy dinning out and travel, all possible side trips for posts.

Why I like to bake? For my day job I am a software programmer and at the end of the day it is sometimes hard to show others what I did that day. I enjoy the work and my clients seem to be OK with it as they keep coming back. Frequently when talking with other programmers and we get into hobbies many of us have hobbies that produce something physical. We joke some days that being a ditch digger would be good as at the end of the day you can look over your shoulder and see what you accomplished.

I don’t call myself a baker, I use the term baking technician. In my job as a programmer you need to be precise and since baking is more science than art the precision appeals to me. A recipe is much like a software program if the instructions are clear and executed correctly you will get the same results each and every time.

My goal is to bring you along on my journey, I’ll cover my successes and my failures. How I’ll be different than many other cooking blogs is I am always looking for a gadget or technique that is more a geek solution than something a baker might use. For example when I cover “room temperature” butter I’ll show you how I built a room temperature refrigerator to make sure the butter really is at “room temperature.

Products that I evaluate and recommend I’ll give you a link if you’d like to buy it. These links may provide a payment to me. For products I don’t end up using or wouldn’t recommend I will give the product name but not provide a link. My evaluations will not be super scientific and frequently leverage evaluations by other websites which I will fully disclose. For example, I follow Cook’s Illustrated regularly and use their evaluations as starting points for some products I try. They have a good track record and most of the time I am happy with the item but not always which I will not hesitate to point out.

As a baking technician I rarely come up with a recipe on my own. Recipes I post on my site will usually start from someone else’s recipe, I will have made the item several times and detail the changes I make to the starting recipe. The source of the original recipe will be included.

My posts will be about my experiences and what has proved successful for me. The old saying “there are two ways around the same tree” is a common remark in the programming world. As long as you get to the same place in about the same amount of time it doesn’t matter much which direction you take around the tree. In baking, the direction you or I take may just be the direction we enjoy more and as long as you are happy with the results it doesn’t matter if it is the “correct” way as others see to do it. For example, as you will find I may overdo it in the precision category but I find a sort of “Zen” in doing it.

I welcome feedback, suggestions, complaints, etc. I am new to running a blog so I expect things might be a bit uneven as compared to other blogs you might follow. I’ll get better. As I mention above, I still have a day job so my posts might not be super regular and responses may be delayed.