Baking the Tart Shell

There is no need to butter or flour the pan – the pastry is so rich that it butters the pan as it bakes. I have found the following method helpful for moving pastry dough without breaking it:

Once the pastry has been rolled out on wax paper, lay another piece of wax paper on top of it. Hold the edge of the bottom paper and begin peeling it off as you roll the dough up into a cylinder. Peel carefully, but do not worry if the pastry cracks a little as it is being rolled up; you can fix it in the pan. (if the dough is hopelessly stuck to the paper, this indicates it has been rolled too long or is too warm: return it to the refrigerator until firm.) When you finish, the dough will be rolled around the top piece of wax paper and the bottom piece will have been peeled off. Turn the roll around, holding it over the pan. Unroll it so that the wax paper is on top and the pastry drops right into the pan as you unroll.

Pat the pastry into place with your fingers, smoothing out creases and working excess dough up toward the rim of the pan. Cut off the uneven edges just below the rim of the pan and use the scraps to patch thin places in the sides. If you wish, you can scallop the edges with a pastry wheel.

Note: If the dough is very fragile, you may want to roll out a small round for the bottom and then roll out a long strip for the sides separately. Combine the dough with your fingers.

Leftover dough may be wrapped securely in plastic and frozen. Later it can be turned into cookies or individual small fruit tarts.

Never let an unbaked tart shell stand in a warm room prior to placing it in the oven. If it has to wait, put it into the refrigerator.