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DOUGHRISEFOUNDERS
Baking Tips
5 min read
Asparagus, Ricotta & Lemon Sourdough Flatbread Pizza
A spring sourdough flatbread pizza topped with fresh asparagus, creamy ricotta and lemon zest. Easy recipe with a crispy fermented base.
A pizza sitting on top of a wooden tableMarch is when asparagus starts showing up at the better market stalls, and every year I find myself planning a bake around it almost immediately. This sourdough flatbread pizza is the result of one of those Friday evenings where you want something a bit special but you are not trying to spend three hours in the kitchen. The fermented base has this gentle tang that works brilliantly against the creamy ricotta and the brightness of lemon zest, and the asparagus tips go slightly charred and crispy at the edges in the oven. It is a proper spring dinner.
The Dough
This is a same-day flatbread dough, which makes it much more approachable than a full overnight pizza ferment. Four hours of bulk at room temperature (which right now, in early March, means around 19 to 20°C in most London kitchens) gives you enough fermentation activity to develop real flavour without requiring you to plan your entire Tuesday around it. The dough is relatively low hydration compared to a sourdough loaf, so it is easy to handle and shapes well without too much fuss.
Flatbread Dough
- 300g (2 cups) strong white bread flour
- 75g (5 tbsp) active sourdough starter, fed and bubbly
- 180g (¾ cup) lukewarm water
- 6g (1 tsp) fine sea salt
- 15g (1 tbsp) extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for the tray
Toppings
- 200g (¾ cup) whole-milk ricotta
- 1 unwaxed lemon, zest and a squeeze of juice
- 1 small garlic clove, finely grated
- 200g (about 12 spears) fresh asparagus, woody ends snapped off
- 50g (½ cup) Parmesan or Pecorino, finely grated
- A small handful of fresh mint or basil leaves, to finish
- Chilli flakes, to taste
- Sea salt and black pepper
- Olive oil, for drizzling
Method
- Mix the dough. Combine the flour, water, active sourdough starter and olive oil in a large bowl. Mix until no dry flour remains, then cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes. This short rest lets the gluten start developing before you add the salt.
- Add the salt. Sprinkle the salt over the dough and work it in with your fingers, squeezing the dough through your fist until it feels uniform. It will feel a bit slippery at first, then it comes together. Cover the bowl again.
- Bulk ferment. Leave the dough at room temperature for around 3.5 to 4 hours. Every 45 minutes or so, give it a round of stretch and folds: wet your hand, grab one side of the dough, stretch it up and fold it over itself. Rotate the bowl and repeat four times. You are looking for the dough to feel noticeably more airy and extensible by the end, with some bubbles visible on the surface.
- Divide and pre-shape. Once the bulk is done, tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into two equal pieces. Fold each piece gently on itself into a rough round, cover with a damp cloth and let them rest for 15 minutes. This makes them much easier to stretch out.
- Prepare the ricotta base. While the dough is resting, mix the ricotta in a bowl with the lemon zest, a squeeze of lemon juice, the grated garlic, a good pinch of salt and some black pepper. Taste it and adjust. It should be bright and a little creamy.
- Preheat your oven. Set your oven to its highest temperature, ideally 250°C (480°F) fan or above. If you have a baking steel or heavy baking tray, put it in the oven now to heat up. The hotter the better here.
- Shape the flatbreads. Drizzle a baking tray generously with olive oil. Take one dough piece and press it out with your fingertips, then carefully stretch it into a rough oval or rectangle, around 28 to 30 centimetres long. It does not need to be perfect. Repeat with the second piece on another tray.
- Top and bake. Spread half the ricotta mixture over each flatbread, leaving a rough centimetre border around the edge. Lay the asparagus spears over the top, scatter over the grated Parmesan and finish with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of chilli flakes. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the edges are deep golden and the asparagus tips have caught a little colour.
- Finish and serve. Straight out of the oven, scatter over the fresh mint or basil leaves and add one more squeeze of lemon. Eat immediately, ideally while standing in the kitchen.
Baker's Tips
- Check your starter is genuinely active. This recipe is a same-day bake, so you cannot afford a sluggish starter. Feed it 4 to 6 hours before you begin and look for it to have doubled and feel airy with a domed top. If it is taking longer than expected in the cooler spring temperatures, place it somewhere slightly warmer, like on top of the boiler or near a warm hob.
- Do not skip the pre-shape rest. That 15-minute rest after dividing is genuinely important. It lets the gluten relax so the dough stretches out without springing back and tearing. Rushing it leads to frustration and a thick, uneven base.
- If your dough is giving you grief consistently, it might be worth getting some proper guidance. The Dough Coach over on the shop is a digital coaching programme built for exactly this kind of thing. Whether you are troubleshooting timing, starter activity or shaping, having a structured resource to refer back to makes the whole process a lot less guesswork.
A Few Thoughts on the Season
Spring baking has a different energy to it. After months of long, cold overnight ferments and dense, warming loaves, there is something genuinely refreshing about a lighter bake that comes together in an afternoon. Asparagus has such a short window, usually from late March through to June, so it is worth making the most of it now while the season is just opening up. This flatbread works well with a few other spring toppings too: try it with fresh peas, a handful of rocket after baking, or some thinly sliced courgette when those start appearing in a few weeks.
Give this one a go this weekend. It is the kind of recipe that looks impressive without actually being all that demanding, and the sourdough base makes it taste like you put in a lot more effort than you did. Which is, honestly, exactly what you want from a Friday night bake.
Happy baking! Find everything you need at doughrise.store
Photo by Gina's Auckland on Unsplash