Dough

This dough is remarkably easy to work with and is a striking shade of mahogany.

This pizza dough recipe can be made with storebought active dry yeast or fresh yeast. It makes enough for two 12-inch pizzas. For the best flavor and texture, be sure to stash the the dough in your refrigerator for at least 24 and up to 48 hours before using.

This savory master dough recipe works for the following four pies. To make this dough without a food processor, use your fingers or a pastry cutter to work the butter into the flour.

Fresh pineapple conjures up images of sunshine, so what better way to cheer up a winter day than with a galette made with golden yellow wedges layered over buttery pastry? Today's pineapples tend to be quite sweet, so just a hint of cinnamon and sugar is all you'll need to bring out their bright flavor.

This is our go-to gluten-free pie crust; it crisps up beautifully and tastes fantastic. We also use this recipe for hand pies and tarts, and we even roll leftovers into little snake shapes, toss them in cinnamon sugar and bake them into little golden cookies. Before you begin, make sure all of your ingredients are refrigerated (or, in the case of the cream cheese and butter, frozen) to ensure that the crust holds its shape and turns flaky once baked.

This is what I'd call the quintessential American pizza dough, inspired by New York-style pizza: medium thin, satisfyingly chewy, and the ideal companion to mozzarella, tomato sauce, and the pizza toppings Americans love best, from pepperoni and sausage to olives, mushrooms, and other vegetables. It's the dough I teach first to new students, and the one I recommend experimenting with because it's so versatile and user-friendly.

Here is a starter I use frequently in my restaurants. My poolish follows the traditional proportions of equal parts water and flour, so its hydration is at 100 percent. In general, unless I specify otherwise, use the same flour in your starter that you will be using in your dough. I always make starters with cold water to slow down the fermentation process for greater flavor complexity. It's helpful to use a clear glass bowl so you can see how well your starter is fermenting.

Too-cold doughs can crack and split when rolled; let this sit at room temperature for five minutes first.

As important as it is to develop feel and instinct when making dough, there is a metric formula for making pasta all'uovo. For every 100 grams of flour, use 1 (50- to 55-gram) egg, which corresponds to 1 USDA medium egg.

Whole-wheat flour may be used if desired.

I like the flavor of pie dough made with butter, but I sometimes like to include a few tablespoons of lard in the dough. The butter gives a lovely rich flavor and tenderness and the lard makes the dough crisper and flakier, and easier to handle. If you don't have good, fresh lard on hand, organic vegetable shortening will accomplish the same result. The butter and lard are cut and worked into smaller pieces in this dough creating a more tender pastry than the crisp gallette dough.

This gluten-free crust is inspired by the very popular gluten-free cakes we've baked at CakeLove for years. Here, I've added freshly ground golden flaxseeds, which add a wonderful, nutty aroma and taste to the dough. The rice flour lends sweetness, and millet is a good substitute for the starch component in flour, but it doesn't do much in the way of binding. That task is left to the tapioca and egg white, which help hold the dough together as you roll it out.

Adding egg yolks, cream, and sugar transforms a standard crust into something almost cookie-like. Freeze the second crust for later use.

This recipe is part of the Epicurious Online Cooking School, in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America. To watch it being made, and to learn how to make other dessert classics, check out the videos.