What's the best way to do something periodically in Erlang?

Use timer:send_interval/2. E.g.:

-behavior(gen_server).

interval_milliseconds()-> 15000.
init()->
    timer:send_interval(interval_milliseconds(), interval),
    {ok, FascinatingStateData}.

%% this clause will be called every 15 seconds
handle_info(interval, StateData)->
    State2 = do_some_work(StateData)
    {noreply, State2}.

The best way is:

init([]) ->
  Timer = erlang:send_after(1, self(), check),
  {ok, Timer}.

handle_info(check, OldTimer) ->
  erlang:cancel_timer(OldTimer),
  do_task(),
  Timer = erlang:send_after(1000, self(), check),
  {noreply, Timer}.

Use the timer module :)