2 cool 4 pie?

April 15, 2006 2:06 PM

Do I refrigerate a bakery bought pie for tomorrow?

So I got tasked with bringing a pie to our Easter festivities tomorrow so I dutifully went to my local bakery and got a mixed berry pie. Now my sister and I are debating if you store it in the fridge or not. It's a cool day in San Francisco if that makes a difference.

posted by bitdamaged to food & drink (9 comments total)

I doubt it matters if you're only eating to tomorrow. A bakery my brother works at stores pies and cakes in a walk-in freezer overnight, but tends to keep everything out during the day, even for extended time. I can't imagine the fridge harming it.
posted by chudmonkey at 2:13 PM on April 15, 2006

er, eating it.
posted by chudmonkey at 2:14 PM on April 15, 2006

Yeah, an uncut fruit pie will be fine.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 2:48 PM on April 15, 2006

Dammit Jim, I'm a baker, not a stenographer!
Oops. Let's try that again.
Yeah, an uncut fruit pie will be fine if left out on a counter over night. Refrigeration is only necessary if it contains dairy, or to keep a portioned pie from drying out.
Put it in a bread bag to keep the crust from getting stale.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 2:56 PM on April 15, 2006

My mom is the director of research and development at a big pie company. Not only does mean that I know it's ok to leave a fruit pie out, it also means that I know that store-bought fruit pies are particularly delicious if warmed up in the oven for 20 minutes or so before eating (375?).
posted by rossination at 3:29 PM on April 15, 2006

That "bakery" link did not go where I expected it to.
posted by kenko at 10:38 PM on April 15, 2006

There is certainly a mixed berry pie sitting on my very kitchen counter downstairs. It has been cut into, the first slice's remnants still warm on my plate right here, but it will not be spending anytime in the refrigerator, nor have they ever. They spend their time in a box, in a pie tin.

And they like it. More importantly, so do I.
posted by disillusioned at 12:00 AM on April 16, 2006

At out house when I was growing up, we had apple and cherry pies out on the buffet in the dining room for days after Thanksgiving and Christmas. (Well, however long they lasted.)
The most we ever did was cover them with foil. Now, the pumpkin went in the fridge, per the dairy comment.
posted by sevenless at 11:31 AM on April 16, 2006

A little late to the party here, but NO DO NOT REFRIGERATE. When it's fruit, that is. As stated earlier, only cream-based pies should be refrigerated.

We own a bakery and tell all our customers not to refrigerate the fruit pies (same goes for pumpkin and pecan). We also encourage them to sit them on the counter with a paper towel/towel or best of all, one of those mesh pie covers. That'll keep the crust crisp. If you cover with plastic wrap it'll sweat and the crust will get soggy. That's why those pies in the sealed containers at the grocery store are all mushy and soggy. As if the crap (preservatives, canned fillings, etc) that's in them isn't bad enough...
posted by Atom12 at 6:52 AM on April 17, 2006