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Is a Water Bath Worth the Trouble?




Source of Recipe


Cook's
A water bath is commonly called for in the baking of cheesecakes and custards. The theory is that a water bath moderates the temperature around the perimeter of the pan, preventing overcooking at the edges. To figure out exactly what's happening, we prepared two identical cheesecakes and baked one directly on the oven rack and the other in a water bath. Both were removed from the oven when their centers reached 147 degrees. The cake that had been baked in a water bath was even-colored and smooth; the other cake was browned and cracked. A quick comparison of the temperature at the edges of the cakes confirmed what we suspected. Upon removal from the oven, the cake that had had the benefit of a water bath was 184 degrees at the edge, whereas the cake baked without the water bath had climbed to 213 degrees.

Why was the cheesecake baked in a water bath 30 degrees cooler at the edges than the cake baked without a water bath? Although in both cases the oven had been set to 325 degrees, a water bath can never exceed 212 degrees, as this is the temperature at which water converts to steam. Why was the cheesecake baked in a water bath even and smooth while the other was browned and cracked? More than half of the water in the bath had evaporated, resulting in quite a humid oven. The increased water content of the air in the oven served to keep the top of the cake moist and prevent cracking. Costing just five minutes worth of work, the water bath protected the edges of the cake by keeping the temperature low and protected the top of the cake through added humidity.