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DOUGHRISEFOUNDERS
Baking Tips
5 min read
Pea, Mint & Whipped Ricotta Sourdough Flatbread Pizza
A fresh spring sourdough flatbread pizza topped with whipped ricotta, peas and mint. Easy recipe with long ferment for deep flavour. Perfect for March baking.
Rectangular pizzas with various toppings including cheese and olives.March is that strange in-between moment where winter hasn't quite packed its bags but spring is clearly knocking. The days are getting a bit longer, the markets are starting to look more interesting, and honestly, my baking mood shifts. I want something lighter, brighter, a little more optimistic on the plate. This sourdough flatbread pizza nails that feeling: a crisp, tangy base topped with whipped ricotta, sweet peas and fresh mint. It is the kind of thing that feels like a treat without requiring a Sunday afternoon of effort.
Why This One Works
The base is a simple sourdough flatbread dough, relatively high hydration, stretched thin and baked on a screaming hot surface. You get that open, blistered texture that proper pizza places spend years chasing, but at home it is genuinely achievable. The topping does the rest. Whipped ricotta is ridiculously easy and makes everything feel a bit more considered. Peas (frozen is absolutely fine) add sweetness and colour. Mint ties it all together and makes the whole thing taste like spring actually arrived.
For the Sourdough Flatbread Dough
- 300g (about 2 cups) strong white bread flour
- 210g (200ml) warm water
- 75g (5 tbsp) active sourdough starter, fed and bubbly
- 7g (1 tsp) fine sea salt
- 10g (2 tsp) olive oil, plus extra for the bowl
For the Whipped Ricotta
- 250g full-fat ricotta
- 1 tbsp good olive oil
- Zest of half a lemon
- Sea salt and black pepper to taste
For the Toppings
- 150g frozen peas, defrosted (or fresh if you can get them)
- Small handful of fresh mint leaves
- 30g Parmesan or Pecorino, finely grated
- A drizzle of good olive oil to finish
- Pinch of chilli flakes (optional but worth it)
- Flaky sea salt to finish
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 autolyse period lets the gluten start developing before you add the salt.
- Add the salt. Sprinkle the salt over the dough, then squeeze and fold it through until fully incorporated. It will feel a bit slippery at first but it comes together.
- Build strength. Over the next 2 hours, give the dough 4 sets of stretch and folds, spacing them roughly 30 minutes apart. Each time, grab one side of the dough, stretch it up and fold it over to the opposite side. Rotate the bowl 90 degrees and repeat until you have done all four sides. Cover between each set.
- Bulk ferment. After the stretch and folds, leave the dough covered at room temperature for a further 3 to 4 hours, until it has risen noticeably and feels puffy and a little airy. The timing will depend on how warm your kitchen is. With the days getting a bit warmer now, March kitchens tend to be in a decent range for fermentation.
- Divide and rest. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into two equal pieces. Shape each one into a rough ball, cover with a clean tea towel, and leave to rest for 30 minutes. This short bench rest makes stretching far easier.
- Heat your oven hard. Crank the oven to its maximum temperature (usually 250 to 270°C / 480 to 520°F) with a heavy baking tray or pizza stone inside. You want it properly hot. Give it at least 45 minutes to fully heat through.
- Whip the ricotta. While the oven heats, beat the ricotta with the olive oil, lemon zest, salt and pepper using a fork or a small whisk. It should become noticeably smoother and lighter. Taste it. Adjust the seasoning. Keep it in the fridge until you are ready to use it.
- Stretch the dough. On a lightly floured surface, press one dough ball flat with your fingers, then gently stretch it outward into a rough oval or round, around 25 to 30 centimetres across. Do not panic about keeping it perfectly circular. Rustic is the whole vibe here.
- Assemble and bake. Slide the stretched dough onto a piece of baking parchment. Spread half the whipped ricotta across it, leaving a small border around the edge. Scatter over half the peas and a bit of the grated Parmesan. Slide the whole thing (parchment and all) onto your preheated tray or stone. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the edges are golden and starting to blister.
- Finish and serve. Pull it from the oven and immediately scatter over fresh mint leaves, chilli flakes if you are using them, the remaining Parmesan and a pinch of flaky sea salt. Drizzle with olive oil and eat it straight away. Repeat with the second flatbread.
Baker's Tips
- Your starter timing matters more than people think. Use your active sourdough starter when it is at or just past its peak, that point where it is domed and bubbly but not yet collapsing. This is when it is most active and will give your dough the best lift and flavour. If you are unsure, drop a small spoonful into a glass of water. If it floats, you are good to go.
- Hot surface, no compromise. The single biggest factor in getting that blistered, restaurant-style base is baking on something that has been properly preheated. If you are baking regularly and want to up your game, a good baking steel or stone makes a real difference. The DoughRise Bread Making Tool Kit includes the kind of kit that makes this whole process more consistent and less faff.
- Do not skip the bench rest. Once you divide the dough, the 30-minute rest before stretching is not just dead time. The gluten relaxes, which means the dough stretches willingly instead of fighting you and springing back into a ball. Patience here saves a lot of frustration later.
A Few Variations Worth Trying
Once you have the base dough down, the topping possibilities are wide open. Swap the peas for broad beans if they start appearing at the market in the coming weeks. A few strips of prosciutto added after baking works brilliantly. Or go entirely the other direction and keep it simple: just good olive oil, sea salt and rosemary before baking, finished with shaved Parmesan. That version is underrated.
This recipe also works well if you want to prep ahead. Make the dough the night before, let it do a slow cold ferment in the fridge overnight after the bulk, and pull it out an hour before you plan to bake. The flavour gets noticeably more complex with a longer cold ferment, that extra tang that makes a sourdough base taste genuinely different from a commercial yeast one.
Give this one a go this weekend. It is genuinely one of the more satisfying things you can make with a sourdough starter, quick enough to be a Friday night thing but good enough to put in front of people you want to impress. Enjoy it.
Happy baking! Find everything you need at doughrise.store
Photo by Christopher Stites on Unsplash