Recipe 6 min read

Sourdough Flatbread with Whipped Ricotta, Spring Peas & Mint

A light, blistered sourdough flatbread topped with whipped ricotta, fresh spring peas and mint. Perfect for May — easy, seasonal and genuinely delicious.

Photo by Alejandra Ezquerro on Unsplash
Photo by Alejandra Ezquerro on Unsplash

The kind of bake that suits a warm May evening: dough that's been quietly working all day, a kitchen that smells faintly of fermentation, and a topping you can throw together in about four minutes. This sourdough flatbread with whipped ricotta, spring peas and mint is the sort of thing you make when you want something a bit special without it becoming a whole project. Light, bright, blistered at the edges , it tastes like the season actually showed up.

Flatbreads are a brilliant entry point if you're still getting comfortable with sourdough, and they're genuinely underrated as a canvas for seasonal toppings. The dough is kept at a fairly relaxed 68% hydration , manageable to handle, easy to stretch, but still giving you that open, slightly chewy crumb and a proper charred underside. What makes this one sing in spring is the contrast: the tang of the sourdough against cool, creamy ricotta, sweet peas that have just hit the shops, and a fistful of fresh mint to lift the whole thing.

Prep30 mins
Ferment6–10 hrs
Cook8 mins
Total7–11 hrs
Yield4 flatbreads
DifficultyEasy

Dough

  • 400g strong white bread flour
  • 272g water, room temperature
  • 80g active sourdough starter (at peak)
  • 8g (1.5 tsp) fine sea salt
  • 10g (2 tsp) extra virgin olive oil

Whipped Ricotta

  • 250g full-fat ricotta
  • 1 unwaxed lemon, zest only
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • Pinch of fine sea salt
  • Pinch of white pepper

Toppings

  • 150g fresh or frozen peas (defrosted if frozen)
  • Small bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked
  • 40g Parmesan or Pecorino, finely grated
  • Extra virgin olive oil, for finishing
  • Flaky sea salt, to serve
  • Optional: a few shavings of prosciutto or a drizzle of chilli oil

Baker's Tips

  • Get your pan or baking stone as hot as possible before the flatbread goes in. A cold surface is the enemy of blistering. I leave my cast iron pan in the oven at maximum heat for at least 30 minutes.
  • Don't skip the olive oil in the dough. It keeps the crumb tender and stops the flatbreads from going bready and thick , you want them to stay pliable with a slight chew rather than turning into a dense disc.
  • If you're scaling this up for a gathering, the baker's percentages calculator on the DoughRise site makes it straightforward to multiply the dough without anything going off-ratio. And if you ever start baking these in larger volumes, the DoughRise Bakery plan has commercial batch scaling and cost reporting built in , genuinely useful once you're making more than a few dozen at a time.

METHOD

  1. Mix the dough. In a large bowl, combine the flour and water and mix until no dry flour remains. Cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes. This short rest (autolyse) lets the flour hydrate fully before you add anything else.
  2. Add the starter and salt. Add the active sourdough starter, salt and olive oil. Squeeze and fold the dough until everything is fully incorporated and the dough starts to feel cohesive and slightly tacky. This usually takes about 3 to 4 minutes of working it with your hands.
  3. Bulk ferment with folds. Cover the bowl and leave at room temperature (ideally 22–24°C). Over the first two hours, perform a set of four stretch-and-folds every 30 minutes. After that, leave the dough undisturbed to finish bulk fermentation. Total bulk time is around 6 to 8 hours at a comfortable spring room temperature. The dough is ready when it has grown by about 50%, feels airy and jiggly, and has a slightly domed surface.
  4. Divide and shape. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into four equal pieces (roughly 190g each). Shape each one into a tight ball by folding the edges underneath, then cover with a damp cloth and leave to rest for 20 to 30 minutes. This bench rest relaxes the gluten and makes them much easier to stretch out without springing back.
Why this works

The bench rest after dividing lets the gluten network relax from all the tension introduced during shaping. When gluten is tight, the dough resists stretching and tears easily , a short rest of 20 to 30 minutes gives the protein bonds time to loosen, so you can stretch the flatbread thin and even without fighting it. The olive oil in the dough also slightly weakens the gluten structure on purpose, keeping things extensible and the final texture pleasantly tender rather than chewy and bready.

  1. Whip the ricotta. While the dough rests, beat the ricotta with the lemon zest, olive oil, salt and white pepper. You can do this with a fork for a rustic result, or a hand whisk if you want it properly airy. Taste and adjust the seasoning , it should be bright and a little sharp to contrast with the dough.
  2. Prepare the peas. If using fresh peas, blanch them in boiling salted water for 90 seconds, then drain and cool immediately under cold water. Frozen peas that have been defrosted at room temperature are completely fine here and honestly taste great in May. You want them bright green, sweet and just barely cooked rather than mushy.

INTO THE OVEN

  1. Heat your cooking surface. Place a cast iron pan, heavy baking tray or pizza stone in the oven and preheat to its maximum temperature (usually 250–270°C / 480–520°F, fan on). Leave it in there for at least 30 minutes. This is the part you really cannot rush.
  2. Stretch the flatbreads. On a lightly floured surface, stretch each dough ball out to roughly 25–28 centimetres , either with your fingers or by gently rotating and gravity-stretching over your knuckles. You're aiming for an irregular oval with a slightly thicker border, like a relaxed pizza base. Don't stress about perfect circles.
  3. Cook the flatbreads. Working one at a time, carefully slide a flatbread onto your preheated surface. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes until the edges are blistered and dark in spots, the underside is golden and the surface is cooked through. Keep an eye on it , every oven runs a bit differently. If you want a bit more char on top, flip it under the grill for the final 60 seconds.
  4. Assemble and serve. Spread a generous spoonful of whipped ricotta across the hot flatbread while it's still warm. Scatter over the peas, a handful of fresh mint leaves and a good dusting of grated Parmesan. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of flaky salt. Eat immediately , this is a stand-around-the-kitchen-and-eat-it-straight job, not a plate-it-properly situation.

Want to dial in this recipe? Use the free DoughRise Hydration Calculator to calculate exactly the right ratios for your flour and batch size.

Happy baking! Find everything you need at doughrise.store

Photo by Alejandra Ezquerro on Unsplash

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