Work with your dough quickly to get it into your tart ring. Roll out the dough in between 2 sheets of parchment paper about 1/4 inch thick. Cut out a circle the size of the bottom of your tart ring. Next, cut a long strip for the edge.
First, brush your tart ring with some soft butter. Next, lay the circle of dough in the center of your tart ring, and then gently place the strip of dough all along the edge of your tart ring. This strip should be taller than the edge of your tart ring. Very often, if you happen to have overworked your dough a little bit, you can have some shrinkage, which will cause the edge of your tart shell to fall down. So, in order to avoid this issue, which is very common, make sure that the strip of dough is at least half an inch taller than the edge of your tart ring. Pinch the strip and the bottom together so that it is nice and smooth.
The tart ring with the dough in it for two hours, or freeze for 30 minutes. Next, with a small paring knife, with the blade facing away from you, trim the edge of the dough so it lines with the edge of your tart ring. Place it back in the freezer, while you pre heat your oven. The dough should always be as cold as possible before going into the oven. This will prevent it from shrinking or the dough from collapsing onto itself when the butter melts too quickly in the oven.
A great trick for blind baking is lining your tart with parchment paper and filling it with either rice or beans. This will act as a weight to keep your dough from bubbling or rising. It will also keep the edges nice and pushed up against the pan so that they do not collapse.
Bake the tart shells filled with the dry beans or rice for about 15 minutes. Once you notice the edge of your tart dough becoming a light golden brown, remove them from the oven and gently lift out the parchment paper circle filled with the rice or dry beans. Pour out the dry beans and remove the parchment paper, then quickly place the tart back into the oven on the same sheet pan. Do not attempt to lift up the tart from the sheet pan at this point. Once back in the oven, bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes until the tart is completely golden brown on the edges, sides, and center.
Allow the tarts to cool completely before removing the rings. If you have a few uneven edges, using a microplane zester, you can actually grate off to level off your tart so it’s perfectly even.
You can keep sweet crust pastry dough in the freezer for up to three months, but i would not freeze pre baked tart shells. If you are making a few tarts and you have enough rings for each of them, you can pre roll them into their tart rings and keep them in the freezer until they are ready to bake.

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How to Blind Bake Tart Shells

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