25 dough ball recipes

Handy pastry dough: make-ahead pie crust with egg and vinegar that keeps two weeks in the fridge. Makes five balls ready to roll for pies, quiches, or turnovers on short notice.

Holiday gingersnaps with crackled sugar tops, deep molasses warmth, and a full tablespoon of ground ginger for serious snap. Chilled dough rolls into tidy balls that bake up crisp at the edges and chewy in the center.

Cold lunch biscuits are sturdy, lightly sweetened lunchbox biscuits made with milk, shortening, and a stiff flour dough. Bake them once and they keep for weeks in a tin.

Vegetarian chili dog rolls wrap a smoky, cumin-spiced TVP filling with sauteed peppers, mushrooms, and tomato inside soft homemade whole wheat yeast dough. Baked golden at 375F, they make 20 hearty rolls.

Cherry chocolate chip cookies with chopped maraschino cherries, semi-sweet chips, and almond extract in a chewy brown sugar dough. Bake 8 minutes for chewy, 13 for crisp.

Grissini al finocchio, Italian fennel seed breadsticks made with beer in the yeast dough. Baked crisp on wire racks for an all-around crunch. Makes 60 sticks.

No-knead bread loaves with scalded milk dough, baked over a steam pan for a crackly crust. Simple everyday bread that works with half whole wheat flour too.

Italian apple tart (crostata di mele) with lattice top and minimal sugar. Thinly sliced apples in homemade tart dough bake until golden. Simple, rustic, and authentically Italian.

Overnight starter pizza dough baked on a stone for a chewy, blistered crust with real pizzeria flavor. Just flour, water, yeast, and salt. Save a piece of dough as your next starter.