A great French silk pie has been described as a “religious experience.” However, even the slightest bit of grittiness or graininess can ruin the taste.
Fixing a grainy French silk pie can only be done before you bake the pie. After mixing all the ingredients (make sure you whisk thoroughly), place the pie filling in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes, and it will often lose the graininess and return to the correct consistency.
To avoid a grainy French silk pie, make sure to whisk the sugar into the butter fully. You should also do this slowly so that the creamed butter and sugar are fluffy.
For more details on how to get rid of this grittiness so you can get the perfect consistency, please keep reading.
Fixing a Grainy French Silk Pie
In some cases, it is possible to fix a grainy French silk pie, but you can only do this before you bake the pie.
If you notice that the pie filling is grainy while making it continue following the recipe until you’ve mixed in the eggs. At this point, you should have blended in all the ingredients in the filling recipe. If you keep whisking a little longer than needed, the pie filling will turn a little warm and runny.
Next, place the pie filling in the refrigerator for about 5-10 minutes until it returns to the right consistency. The ingredients should have blended together well while sitting in the refrigerator, which should have gotten rid of the graininess.
What Happens if You Bake a Grainy Filling?
We’ve discussed fixing a grainy filling before you bake it, but what happens if you don’t realize it’s grainy until you’ve finished baking your pie?
If you bake a grainy filling, there is no way to fix the graininess. However, while a grainy filling will affect the pie’s texture, it should not affect the flavor too much. You can still eat your French silk pie–it just won’t taste as smooth as it should.
Make Sure To Whisk the Butter and Sugar for Your French Silk Pie Properly To Avoid Graininess
One of the first steps of making a French silk pie is to cream the sugar and butter–that is to say, whisk the two ingredients together, slowly incorporating the sugar into the butter.
If this step goes wrong, the sugar will not incorporate with the butter (and the rest of the ingredients) properly. The result will be a French silk pie that is gritty and grainy when baked.
In order to avoid having this happen, the easiest solution is to ensure you’ve whisked in the sugar fully. Because this can often not be obvious visually, you should instead keep tasting your ingredients to ensure there are no noticeable sugar lumps.
Additionally, make sure to cream the butter slowly, gradually adding the sugar into the butter. Creaming the butter too fast increases the risk of a grainy silk pie.
How Long Does a French Silk Pie Last in the Fridge?
Once you’ve baked your French silk pie, you can store it in the fridge if you’re not ready to eat it just yet, or if you have any leftovers. But you can’t refrigerate it indefinitely.
A French silk pie lasts 3-4 days in the refrigerator as long as it is stored properly. However, to ensure the greatest shelf life, you should cover it loosely to prevent it from getting too stiff. You can use foil or plastic wrap, or place it in an airtight container.
You can also refrigerate the different elements–the filling and the pie crust–and store them separately in the fridge. You can then put them together and bake the pie fresh when you’re ready to consume it.
However, even if stored separately, the pie crust and filling will last only about three days in the fridge. You can stretch it to seven days, but storing a French silk pie (whether baked or as a crust and filling) over three days will start to degrade the taste and texture.
If you want to extend your French silk pie’s shelf life over 3-7 days, you will need to freeze it.
To freeze French silk pie, make the pie as directed by your recipe. However, do not make a whipped cream topping (if your recipe calls for one). Instead:
- Flash freeze it for a few hours.
- After a few hours, remove the pie out of the freezer and wrap it with plastic wrap.
- Gently place the plastic-wrapped pie into a freezer-safe container or a freezer bag. Alternatively, wrap it twice with plastic wrap.
- Place it back into the freezer and leave it there until you’re ready to eat it.
When you’re ready to eat, remember to thaw it in a refrigerator for a day before eating it.
Final Thoughts
A gritty French silk pie can be fixed as long as it hasn’t been baked. The reason for the grittiness is because the sugar hasn’t been incorporated into the butter well enough, leaving behind sugar lumps that you can taste.
I hope this has been helpful. Thanks for stoppin’ by!
For more, don’t miss How To Fix Runny French Silk Pie (Avoiding It Next Time).
Anne James has a wealth of experience in a wide array of interests and is an expert in quilting, cooking, gardening, camping, mixing drinks (worked as a professional bartender), and making jelly.
Anne has a professional canning business, has been featured in the local newspaper as well as on the Hershey website, and has been her family canner for decades. Anyone growing up in the South knows that there is always a person in the family who has knowledge of the “old ways,” and this is exactly what Anne is.
With over 55 years of experience in these endeavors, she brings a level of hands-on knowledge that is hard to surpass. Amazingly, she doesn’t need to reference many resources due to her vast wealth of experience. She IS the source.
Anne wants nothing more than to pass on her extensive knowledge to the next generations, whether that be family or anyone visiting her website, her YouTube channel, or preservingsweetness.com.