Science Behind Flour

• To understand why a pumpkin cheesecake recipe might call for flour, it’s important to understand the role flour plays in baking. Flour supplies starch, sugar, enzymes and protein in the form of gluten to baking. Each component contributes to the structure of the baked good, but with a custard-type recipe such as pumpkin cheesecake, which has more moisture, the role of flour lies less with the gluten and more with the starch. The starch in the flour swells and structurally enhances the cheesecake, making it denser.

Cheesecake With Flour

• Adding flour to your pumpkin cheesecake creates a firm texture that requires fewer eggs than a cheesecake made without flour. Recipes that call for flour usually include four to five large eggs and 1/4 cup of flour for every 15 ounces of pumpkin and 16 to 24 ounces of cream cheese. Cheesecake is similar to baked custard except it’s made with cream cheese rather than milk or cream. Adding pureed pumpkin creates a moist custard that fares well with the addition of flour. Flour molecules swell with moisture and heat, which creates a dense, New York-style cheesecake.

Cheesecake Without Flour

• Pumpkin cheesecake made without flour is smooth and rich, but without the thickening power of flour, it will take more eggs to solidify the cheesecake. Recipes that do not include flour call for four large eggs and two extra yolks. Thickening occurs when the lecithin and lipoproteins in the eggs emulsify with heat, bringing everything together. This creates a smoother and richer cheesecake reminiscent of baked custard.

Cooking Methods

• A pumpkin cheesecake prepared without flour requires a water bath to provide constant, moist heat for even baking and to prevent curdling. Set your cheesecake in a large roasting pan and fill it with enough boiling water to reach halfway up the pan. You may also bake a flourless pumpkin cheesecake at 275 degrees Fahrenheit without a water bath for one hour, and then, turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake to rest for one hour in the heated oven. On the other hand, adding flour to a pumpkin cheesecake custard also prevents the eggs from curdling, so the cheesecake may be baked in an oven at 350 F without a water bath.