Gathering the dough Together

Whichever method you’ve used to make the dough, gather it into a ball. Place it on a lightly floured sheet of plastic wrap or wax paper and flatten it into a neat disk shape. Sprinkle very lightly with flour, wrap tightly and chill for at least 30 minutes before rolling out.

“As far as I’m concerned, you can roll that dough out as soon as you put it together,” one blue-ribbon winner told me. And you can. But chilling the dough and giving it a rest lets the gluten relax a bit, making the dough more tender and preventing it from contracting as it bakes.