My homemade flatbread recipe is an easy, fast recipe that will make delicious, soft flatbread each and every time! Save the recipe now to Pinterest so you can always find it.
Early spring is one of those seasons where I feel like I have more time on Saturday and Sundays than I do in the middle of the week. With soccer starting for the kids, each night during the week is filled with something. And while soccer may rule my life on Saturday mornings too, after that weekends here on the farm are spent doing outside projects and cooking. I love to spend Saturdays and Sundays making fresh bread and playing with pastas. Friday nights have become our pizza nights and this week instead of pizza bread, I decided to make homemade flatbread.
What is flatbread
Flatbread is a cross between pizza and pita. It is a thin, homemade bread that is served often as an appetizer in many restaurants, although it works just as well as a full dinner option too. Pizza, flatbread and pita are all made with the same ingredients, but pizza includes yeast whereas pita usually does not. Sometimes flatbreads include yeast and sometimes they do not. My homemade flatbread recipe does include yeast and that makes the flatbread softer than some you might find in restaurants, which to me can sometimes taste like a thick cracker.
Making the dough
One of my favorite things about my Homemade Flatbread recipe is that it does not take a long time to make. When making the dough itself, it is a quick mix of the ingredients leaving just a few minutes in the beginning for the yeast to bubble in the water. Then it rests.
While this does have yeast in it, it does not require a long rise time. Why? Because we are making flatbread and you do not need it to rise like a thick pizza crust or a loaf of bread. Instead, the rise time – or better yet the rest time – is just 20 minutes. Yes, I know it is not long. It is just enough time for you to prep your other ingredients and warm up the oven.
When the rest time is up, the dough might not look like it has done much of anything at all. Don’t worry. It will bake up really well.
Rolling it out
Before rolling out the dough, flour a work surface and then turn the dough ball out onto it. Cut the dough ball into three pieces. I use a stainless steel dough cutter like this {HERE}. In our family, we all have different tastes so I make a plain cheese flatbread for the kids and usually include a dipping sauce. Kevin love a good margarita flatbread and with me, well, I like to seasonally try different things like my picture Asparagus & Radish Flatbread with Prosciutto. This recipe gives us all what we like. It is also perfect if you want to make a party appetizer and have several options too.
Flour a rolling pin lightly and then roll the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Give the dough one, nice, long roll and then roll out from the middle into sort-of a rectangle shape. I don’t get overly fussy about the shape, as you can see.
Baking the Homemade Flatbread
Once the dough is rolled, carefully place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. At this point, you can add your toppings. If you are going to add any wet toppings – like tomatoes or artichokes or anything else that tends to add a lot of wetness to the flatbread, then I would suggest patting those off first. Getting extra water out of the vegetables allows them to roast up better and keeps them from adding water to the homemade flatbread.
Once all the toppings are on, brush extra virgin olive oil on the edges of the flatbread dough. I also like to drizzle a little over the top of the toppings to help add a little char to the vegetables. This goes into an oven preheated to 500 degrees. This is not the broil setting. The oven should have an actual setting for 500 degrees.
The flatbread recipe will bake up in for 8 minutes. That should be all you need. If you prefer a little more char or a little bit of a darker crust, you can bake it up to 10 minutes. I do not recommend going over 10 minutes.
Homemade Flatbread Recipe Builds
For my flatbread I included the following:
- Radish slices
- Asparagus spears
- A mix of Havarti cheese and Parmesan Cheese (maybe 2 ounces of each)
- Prosciutto
- Fresh dill
- Dollops of Garlic & Green Onion Pesto – Recipe {HERE}
Kevin’s flatbread build
- Fresh tomatoes
- Fresh Basil
- Fresh slices of garlic
- Fresh mozzarella cheese
Tips for making my Homemade Flatbread Recipe
- Make sure to use a good quality extra virgin olive oil. This is in the dough and is used in the flatbread build. The better the extra virgin olive oil, the better the flavor.
- This recipe uses all-purpose flour to make it easy. I do not know how it will work with pizza dough or whole wheat. I would guess you would be fine if you want to use one of those flours.
- I don’t have specific measurements for the topping ingredients. I will add them below in the printable recipe but I just decided to eyeball it.
- Please make sure to just pat those wet veggies a little drier as noted above. It does help not to make your dough soggy where those vegetables are laid.
- Saving the flatbread, if you have leftover pieces, add them to a plate and cover them with wrap. You can refrigerate the homemade flatbread for about 1 day. Reheat it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes.
Looking for more homemade recipes?
If you love a good, easy homemade dinner recipe, try these!
- Sheet Pan Lemon Chicken with Potatoes and Asparagus {HERE}
- Recipe for Cottage Pie {HERE}
- Skillet Lasagna Recipe {HERE}
- White Wine Dijon Chicken {HERE}
- Steak & Cauliflower Soup {HERE}
- Sheet Pan Kielbasa and Vegetables {HERE}
- Tequila Lime flank Steak {HERE}
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Thank you so much for joining me today, friends! I hope that you love my Homemade Flatbread recipe and that you come back again to visit at the farmhouse. You can find the full, printable recipe below. Happy eating!
Homemade Flatbread Recipe
Equipment
- Baking sheet
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 3/4 cup warm water About 110 degrees
- 1 package of dry active yeast
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Additional flour for rolling about. Maybe 1/4 cup.
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil - This is for brushing onto the edges of the rolled out bread.
Rachel's Spring Flatbread Build
- 2-3 radishes, sliced
- 3 asparagus spears, cut into 2-3 inch pieces with woody ends removed
- 2 oz havarti cheese
- 2 oz parmesan cheese
- 3 pieces of prosciutto
- 1 tbsp fresh dill I added half of this ahead of time and about half after it was cooked.
- Dollops of Garlic & Green Onion Pesto
Kevin's Flatbread Build
- 1 sliced tomato
- 2-3 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
- 4 oz fresh mozzarella
- 1-2 pieces of fresh garlic, sliced
- Kevin dipped his in the Garlic & Green Onion Pesto too
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
- Sift or whisk together flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl and then set it aside.
- In a second bowl, add the warm water and add the dry active yeast. Lightly mix with a stainless steel whisk or even just wish the bowl around. You can also use a wooden spoon but sometimes it tends to grab some of the yeast. Set this aside for about 3-5 minutes. The yeast will lightly bubble and/or foam.
- When the yeast foams, pour the flour mixture into it and mix with a wooden spoon. When the dough is shaggy, you can use your hands to bring it together a little more. Then add the extra virgin olive oil and again use your hands to pull it together and lightly form it into a ball.
- Cover the bowl with a tea towel or plastic wrap and set the bowl in a warm place for 20-30 minutes.
- Once the time is up, fully bring the dough together with your hands and place the ball on a floured work surface. Using a stainless steel dough cutter or bench scraper, cut the dough into three equal pieces. Put two back in the bowl and cover and work with one at a time.
- Flour the work surface and the rolling pin. Roll across the surface once and then roll into a a rectangle shape. Roll from the middle out until the dough is about 1/4 an inch thick.
- Gently lift the dough and place it on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Top with toppings as desired. Brush the edges with extra virgin olive oil, any of the vegetables showing and drizzle a little over the cheese. Bake for 8 -10 minutes and then immediately remove the parchment paper from the baking sheet to cool. Use 10 minutes if you want a browner crust. It should be done at 8 minutes.
- Give the flatbread a few minutes to cool and then slice with a pizza cutter. Serve topped with fresh herbs and enjoy!
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