Flatbread Pizza
This homemade Flatbread Pizza is a delicious, easy weeknight meal that can be made in under an hour from start to finish. The flatbread is soft and chewy and can be fully customized with your favorite toppings.
The summer season is right around the corner, which means I’m dreaming of juicy, ripe summer tomatoes, and meals that take a lot less time to make. My absolute favorite tomatoes are heirloom tomatoes. Not only do they look cool and come in a fun variety of colors, but they taste great too. They’re incredibly juicy and delicious.
Once summer comes around, I crave lots of fresh, summery ingredients. With three little boys in our house, pizza nights are always a win. So, this flatbread pizza with the fresh summery ingredients was a total win in my book.
The nice thing about this flatbread pizza is that it is fully customizable. So, while I made this with fresh summer ingredients, you can make it during the winter with pizza sauce, cheese and pepperoni, or your favorite toppings.
This flatbread pizza dough comes together quickly and only requires one rise and just 15 minutes to bake. It’s thinner than pizza dough, yet still has that delicious chewy texture. Alright, let’s get into baking this!
The details
The yeast
This recipe uses active dry yeast. If you know me, I typically use instant yeast. Why? Well, for a few reasons. Instant yeast rises faster in a short amount of time than active dry yeast. Most of my recipes have short rise times (because I have 3 little boys that keep my days very busy). Secondly, I like that instant yeast can be added directly into the other ingredients. Unlike active dry yeast, there is no “activation” time. It is ready to use the minute you add it to your mixing bowl. Lastly, I typically buy instant yeast in these pre-measured packets at the grocery store. Typically for up to 4 cups of flour, 2 1/4 teaspoons, or 1/4 ounce, is the appropriate amount of yeast to use. Of course, it depends entirely on the recipe and how long the dough will rise, etc.
For this recipe, however, I only used 2 3/4 cup of flour, plus the flatbread dough is intended to be more so what the title says – flat bread. It isn’t as airy as say a focaccia or a pizza dough that has had 72 hours of rising time.
You can certainly use instant yeast for this recipe in a 1:1 substitution. I just happened to have a jar of active dry yeast on hand, and opted to use that in this recipe.
Since I used active dry yeast, I mixed the yeast with the warm water and allowed the mixture to sit for 5-10 minutes, until it achieved that yeasty smell and frothy appearance. This indicated that my yeast was alive and well, active and ready to be used. If your yeast does not get this appearance it could mean that your yeast was old/expired or perhaps the water you used was too hot or too cold. The water should ideally be between 108-112 degrees Fahrenheit. Discard the yeast if it does not activate and get the frothy appearance. You can either start over or get a new batch of yeast.
making the dough
Once the yeast is ready to be used, add the flour, olive oil and salt. Knead the dough on medium speed for 5 minutes. Make sure you don’t add the salt directly on top of the yeast. It can deactivate the yeast. I like to add the flour first, then the salt on top of that.
Transfer the flatbread dough to a greased bowl, then spray the top of the dough with nonstick spray and cover with plastic wrap.
rising time
This dough only needs one rise, and it only takes 30 minutes! Preheat your oven to 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Once the oven reaches this temperature, turn the oven off. Place the covered dough in the oven and allow to rise for 30 minutes.
make the pesto
If you choose to use homemade pesto on this flatbread pizza, I recommend making it while the dough rises. You can make homemade pesto one of two ways – with a mortar and pestle, or in a blender. Essentially with both methods, you add the garlic, toasted pine nuts and fresh basil. Grind/mash until roughly combined, then add in the cheese and lemon juice. While the food processor is running or while you are stirring the pesto with your pestle, slowly drizzle in the olive oil until combined.
shape the dough
Once the dough is done rising, punch down the dough and transfer to a floured surface. Divide the dough into two pieces. Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Honestly you can make them whatever shape you want. Mine were ovals. Place the flatbread pizza dough on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
add your favorite toppings and bake
Add your favorite toppings to the flatbread pizza dough. For mine, I used the fresh pesto, fresh mozzarella cheese and fresh heirloom tomatoes. Then I sprinkled freshly grated parmesan cheese and basil on top.
Bake the pizzas in the oven for 14-18 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown in color and the cheese is melted.
If you make this Flatbread Pizza recipe, let me know what you thought below in the ratings and comments. I always enjoy hearing your feedback, as it helps me improve my own recipes for you!
If you’re looking for more fun pizza and summer recipes, here are a few ideas for you!
other recipes you may like:
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Flatbread Pizza
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 2 1x
Description
This homemade Flatbread Pizza is a delicious, easy weeknight meal that can be made in under an hour from start to finish. The flatbread is soft and chewy and can be fully customized with your favorite toppings.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 cup warm water (warmed to 110F)
- 2 3/4 cups bread flour (or all-purpose flour)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Toppings
- Tomatoes, sliced
- Fresh mozzarella
- Pesto
Basil Pesto
- 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 small garlic clove
- Pinch of salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves
- 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese, grated
Instructions
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, add the yeast and warm water. Whisk to combine, then allow mixture to sit for 5-10 minutes, or until frothy. This indicates that the yeast is active.
2. Add the flour, salt and olive oil to the bowl, then mix on medium speed for 5 minutes. Transfer the dough to a greased bowl. Spray the top of the dough with nonstick cooking spray, then cover with plastic wrap.
3. Preheat the oven to 150F. Once the oven reaches this temperature, turn the oven off. Place the covered dough in the warm oven and allow to rise for 30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, make the basil pesto, if desired. Using a mortar and pestle or a blender, add the garlic, pine nuts and fresh basil. Crush with the mortar or grind until roughly combined. Add the cheese, lemon juice and pinch of salt. While using the mortar, or with the motor running on the food processor, drizzle in olive oil in a slow stream until emulsified. Set aside.
5. Preheat oven to 475F.
6. Punch the dough down, then turn out on a floured surface. Divide the dough in half. Working with one piece at a time, roll the dough out to ¼ inch thickness. Repeat with remaining dough. Transfer to parchment paper lined baking sheet.
7. Spread the pesto over the dough, then top with fresh mozzarella and tomato slices, or whatever toppings you desire.
8. Bake in preheated oven for 14-18 minutes, or until crust is golden and cheese is melted. Enjoy!
Notes
- This recipe uses active dry yeast, which means you need to mix the yeast with a warm liquid to “activate” it. After 5-10 minutes, the mixture should appear frothy/bubbly on the surface. You’ll also be able to smell the yeast smell. If it does not get frothy, the yeast may be dead. Reasons for this could include too hot of water (I aim for water temperature between 108 – 112 degrees Fahrenheit), or the yeast could be old/expired.
- You may substitute instant yeast in this recipe in the same amount. If you use instant yeast, you do not need to activate the yeast. Just simply mix the yeast in with the ingredients.
- You can use either bread flour or all-purpose flour in this recipe. The bread flour will result in softer, chewier flatbread.
- Prep Time: 40
- Cook Time: 15
- Category: Lunch, Dinner
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
