Adapted from my favorite pizza crust, this homemade flatbread pizza bakes up into a thin and chewy base for your favorite flatbread toppings. Quicker, easier, and thinner than pizza, this flatbread dough takes about 1 hour start to finish and is perfect for beginners. I always love adding garlic and Italian seasonings for extra flavor!
One reader, Jay, commented: “So consistently good! It has become our go-to for family pizza nights. ★★★★★“
One reader, Michael, commented: “I have used this recipe three times with varying toppings. Each one has been fantastic. The flatbread holds up really well to tomato sauce and generous amounts of cheese and vegetables. The extra dough freezes well and is a snap to defrost. A+ for this recipe. ★★★★★“
If you’ve ever wanted to try making restaurant-style thin crust flatbreads, I have the perfect starting point for you. This is my EASY homemade flatbread dough, and the starting point for recipes like zucchini & herbed ricotta flatbread and cold veggie pizza. Have you tried it yet?
Here’s why you must…
Make This Flatbread Pizza Because:
- You don’t need many ingredients
- It’s quicker than homemade pizza
- The dough yields 2 flatbreads
- 1 full recipe is perfect for 2-4 people
- It’s easier to shape than regular pizza dough
- You can eat it plain or with toppings
In other words, it’s the easier, quicker, and more convenient version of pizza dough.
What’s the Difference Between Flatbread Pizza and Regular Pizza?
Flatbread can be made with or without yeast. My version requires yeast for the smallest bit of rise, similar to a thin crust pizza. If you want a no-yeast flatbread, I recommend searching for another recipe that’s modified without its addition. (Don’t simply leave the yeast out of this one!)
My regular pizza dough bakes into a thick, chewy, and soft-centered bed for your favorite toppings. It’s a deeply loved recipe on this website and the only pizza dough recipe I use. Flatbread pizza is just that—flatter pizza. Since it’s flatter, it doesn’t require as much yeast or rise time and is perfectly manageable if you’ve never made homemade bread before.
This flatbread is similar to my focaccia, another simple homemade bread recipe.
*PS: Don’t forget about Chicago-style deep dish pizza when weighing your different pizza options!
6 Ingredient Yeast Flatbread Pizza Dough
- Yeast: You can use instant or active-dry yeast with zero changes. If you’re new to working with yeast, I recommend reviewing my Baking with Yeast guide. I used to make flatbread with 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of yeast, but recently reduced it down to 1 teaspoon. This is plenty for a thin flatbread crust. Note that 1 teaspoon is less than 1 standard packet.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar feeds the yeast. You only need 1 teaspoon.
- Water: Flatbread and pizza dough are lean doughs, meaning there isn’t a lot of fat present. While I make rich overnight cinnamon rolls and glazed doughnuts dough with milk, we don’t need that extra fat here. We’re aiming for chewy and crisp, not voluptuous and soft.
- Flour: You can use bread flour or all-purpose flour. Bread flour leaves a slightly chewier texture, but the difference is barely noticeable since the crust is so thin.
- Olive Oil: Adds flavor. We’ll also brush the dough with olive oil before baking, too.
- Salt: Adds flavor.
Optional Additions: You can also add some flair to this dough with a little garlic and/or Italian seasoning like we often do when making homemade breadsticks. Or add chopped fresh herbs or freshly ground pepper, too.
Overview: How to Make Flatbread Pizza Dough
- Mix the dough ingredients together by hand or use a stand mixer.
- Knead by hand or beat the dough with your mixer. Reference my How to Knead Dough video tutorial if you need extra help with this step.
- Place dough into a greased mixing bowl, cover tightly, and let it rise for 45 minutes.
- Punch down the slightly risen dough to release air bubbles. Divide in half.
- Flatten the two doughs with your hands or with a rolling pin. The flatbreads can be any shape you want as long as they’re about 1/4-inch thick. (Very thin!) Dimple with your fingers or with a fork. Brush with olive oil, which helps protect the crust from any sogginess lingering from the toppings.
- Top with favorite flatbread toppings.
- Bake at a very high temperature for only about 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
You Can Enjoy it Plain
If desired, you can skip the toppings and leave the flatbread plain. In the next two pictures, I topped the doughs with fresh garlic, sea salt, and freshly ground pepper. After baking, I sprinkled with fresh parmesan cheese. Freshly baked plain flatbread feels like a total treat when served with marinara sauce, hummus, homemade pesto, or even mashed avocado and fried eggs (for an avocado toast variation!).
Flatbread Pizza Toppings
Or you can get creative with various toppings. Add these before baking.
- Tomato, Basil, & Mozzarella Flatbread: I have this version pictured today, and with some fresh arugula on top. See recipe note.
- Zucchini & Herbed Ricotta Flatbread
- Apple & Goat Cheese Flatbread: 1/2 cup goat or blue cheese per flatbread (1 cup total) and 1/2 cup fresh apple or pear slices per flatbread (1 cup total), plus a handful of fresh arugula and/or drizzle of honey after baking
- Sausage & Pesto Flatbread: 1/2 cup prepared pesto and 1/2 cooked sausage crumbles per flatbread (1 cup of each total for 2 flatbreads), 4 ounces mozzarella cheese per flatbread (8 ounces total), and 1/4 cup sliced sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil per flatbread (1/2 cup total)
- Make a cold veggie pizza! (Note the dough is very slightly different in that recipe.)
- BBQ Chicken Pizza toppings*
- Spinach Artichoke White Cheese Pizza toppings*
*If you’re using toppings from my pizza recipes, you’ll need about 2/3 of the amount. My pizza recipe toppings are enough for one 12-inch pizza and are more than plenty for 2 smaller flatbreads (the full recipe below).
Pre-cook: Any meats should be pre-cooked before using as a flatbread topping. If you want to top the flatbread with vegetables, feel free to sauté or gently cook them first. I usually don’t with spinach, peppers, and mushrooms, but with “harder” veggies like broccoli or cauliflower, they’ll taste better if they’ve been slightly cooked before using as topping.
Get creative! I can’t wait to hear about how you top your flatbread pizzas. Feel free to email or share your recipe photos on social media. 🙂
See Your Homemade Flatbread Pizzas:
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Homemade Flatbread Pizza Recipe
- Prep Time: 55 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
- Yield: serves 2-4
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
Follow these basic instructions for thin yeasted flatbread pizza crust. The recipe yields enough dough for two small flatbreads, each perfect for 1 hungry person or 2 people to split (2-4 people total). Freezing instructions listed below. See all of my detailed topping suggestions in the blog post above or recipe notes below.
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon active dry or instant yeast
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup (180ml) warm water, (between 100-110°F, 38-43°C)
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour or bread flour (spooned & leveled), plus more for hands and surface
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) olive oil, plus 2 teaspoons for brushing the dough
- 1 teaspoon salt
- optional: 1 teaspoon garlic powder or 1 clove minced garlic and/or 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
Instructions
- Prepare the dough: Whisk the yeast, sugar, and warm water together in the bowl of your stand mixer. Loosely cover and allow to sit for 5–10 minutes until foamy and frothy on top. *If you do not own a stand mixer, you can do this in a large mixing bowl and in the next step, mix the dough together with a large wooden spoon/silicone spatula. It will take a bit of arm muscle. A hand mixer works, but the sticky dough repeatedly gets stuck in the beaters. Mixing by hand with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula is a better choice.*
- Add the flour, olive oil, and salt (and garlic/seasoning if using). Mix on low speed with the dough hook attachment until combined, about 2 minutes. The dough should be thick, yet soft and slightly sticky. It should pull away from the sides of the bowl as it mixes. When it does, it is ready to knead. If, however, the dough is too sticky to handle, mix in more flour, 1 Tablespoon at a time. Make sure you do not add too much extra flour; you want a soft, slightly tacky dough.
- Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer (and switch to the dough hook if using the paddle) and beat for an additional 6-8 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 6-8 full minutes. (If you’re new to bread-baking, my How to Knead Dough video tutorial can help here.) If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a “windowpane test” to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough: tear off a small (roughly golfball-size) piece of dough and gently stretch it out until it’s thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so, your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading until it passes the windowpane test.
- Place the dough in a greased bowl (I use nonstick spray to grease) and cover with plastic wrap, aluminum foil, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow to sit and rest for 45 minutes at room temperature. Once it has rested and slightly risen, you can continue with the recipe or place the covered dough in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. More instructions in the make ahead Note below.
- As the dough is resting and rising, prepare your toppings. See blog post and/or recipe note below.
- Preheat oven to 475°F (246°C).
- Shape the dough: Punch the dough down to release any air. Divide the dough in half. On a lightly floured surface with floured hands and working with one dough piece at a time, begin shaping and stretching the dough until it is 1/4 inch thick. You can use a floured rolling pin for this too. Don’t worry about the shape of the dough, just make sure it’s pretty thin. Repeat with the second piece of dough. Carefully transfer both pieces of dough to a parchment paper or silicone-mat lined baking sheet, or use a pizza stone. (You can also shape/roll out the doughs directly on a silicone baking mat or a large sheet of parchment if that is easier for you and then just transfer the whole thing to the baking sheet.)
- Poke your fingers all around the surface of the flatbreads or prick a few holes with a fork. Drizzle or brush each with 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Top each with your favorite toppings.
- Bake for 15–20 minutes or until the crust and toppings are browned to your liking. Remove from the oven. Slice and serve warm.
- Cover and store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: The dough can be prepared through step 4, then after it has risen, cover and place in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Continue with step 5. To freeze the dough, prepare it through step 4. After it has risen, punch it down to release any air. Divide it in 2, if desired, then wrap in plastic wrap and place in a freezer-friendly container for up to 3 months. When ready to use, thaw the dough overnight in the refrigerator. Then let the dough sit at room temperature for about 1 hour before stretching out/shaping and topping. If the thawed dough keeps shrinking back as you try to shape it, lightly cover it with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and let it rest on the counter or your work surface for 15 minutes. (The gluten just needs a chance to settle.)
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Stand Mixer or Glass Mixing Bowl and Wooden Spoon / Silicone Spatula | Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Pizza Stone | Pizza Cutter
- Yeast: You can use instant or active-dry yeast with zero changes. If you’re new to working with yeast, I recommend reviewing my Baking with Yeast guide. I used to make flatbread with 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of yeast, but recently reduced it down to 1 teaspoon. This is plenty for a thin flatbread crust. Note that 1 teaspoon is less than 1 standard packet. If you want a no-yeast flatbread, I recommend searching for another recipe that’s modified without its addition. (Don’t simply leave the yeast out of this one!)
- Flour: I haven’t tested this recipe with whole wheat flour, but let me know if you do. You may need a little extra liquid in the dough.
- Pictured Plain Flatbread: Top with 1 teaspoon each of olive oil as directed in step 8. Top each with 1 clove minced garlic. Sprinkle with your desired amount of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. After baking, sprinkle with fresh parmesan cheese (if desired).
- Pictured Tomato, Basil, & Mozzarella Flatbread: Slice 8 ounces of fresh mozzarella into thin slices, or use 8 ounces shredded mozzarella. Top each flatbread with 4 ounces. Top each with a handful of fresh tomato slices and a sprinkle of chopped fresh basil. If desired, sprinkle with fresh parmesan cheese too. After baking, feel free to top with more chopped fresh basil and/or fresh arugula.
- Double Batch: Dough may easily be doubled by doubling each ingredient. Extend the rise time in step 4 to 1 hour.
- Optional Flavors in Dough: I love adding garlic and Italian seasoning to this dough, as listed in the ingredient list above. If you can’t find a spice labeled “Italian Seasoning” in the spice aisle, use dried oregano, dried basil, and/or dried parsley instead. Honestly, any herb (fresh or dried) that you love works.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I’m not the best at yeast doughs, as I’m still practicing but this recipe was so easy and came out perfectly! I even doubled it on the first try and I still turned out great. I make chicken Alfredo and bbq chicken pizzas as well as a cinnamon roll stick for dessert. All of it was amazing, will be keeping and using this for pizza all the time!!
This turned out great. The recipe was very easy to follow and the end result tasted delicious.
I just completed the flatbread pizza for the April challenge and it’s amazing! Such a simple easy to follow recipe, that doesn’t take all day. The recipe makes two personal sized pizzas so they are easier for a home kitchen to manage than one big pizza. The crust is fairly thin with a perfect crunch/chew. I will be making this recipe on repeat!
Hi Sally! Just to clarify, you can use the dough the same day? Is that correct? No need to put it in the fridge? Thank you so much!
Correct!
Can’t believe how easy this was, and delicious too! Perfect to whip up for a quick lunch but feeling very accomplished nontheless 😀 Thanks Sally
Recipe came together so easily with few ingredients and was delicious! I made one with zucchini, tomatoes, roasted red pepper, prosciutto, mozzarella and Parmesan tonight. The other half of the dough is in my fridge for a different combo tomorrow!
I adore your traditional pizza dough recipe (simply the best homemade pizza dough out there), so I was happy to give this one a try yesterday on the first day of the post. It’s a fast weeknight alternative to your traditional dough and was a great way for me to use some fresh mozz that was languishing in my fridge. Thanks for giving us a recipe that was very friendly to those of us sheltering in place this month.
Turned out so great! Super easy recipe. We had to cook it longer then the recipe said (around 20min) but turned out great!
OMG! I make m.o.p. all the time for dinner but my kids and husband must have said wow countless times as they ate this. I tripled the recipe to feed a family of 5. The 6th dough I made a dessert like pizza with apricot, fig,carmelized onion and an Armenian string cheese. Amazing!
I love your pizza dough recipe so I couldn’t wait to try this one. I followed the recipe exactly, i had to add a little more flour while kneading but that’s it. I love the shorter rise time and the thinner, crispier crust! I let it bake about 20 minutes to get it super crispy and a tiny bit charred and it was delicious! I can’t wait to go shopping again to get some different toppings for this!
Absolutely delicious and so easy to make! Don’t be concerned if the dough doesn’t get as big/puffy as other breads during the rise- they come out perfect.
Is this recipe easily doubled or would it need to be made twice to yield four flatbreads?
Either way works!
This recipe was so easy and fun to make. The pizzas came out wonderful. So delicious!! My little sisters had so much fun shaping the dough it ended up on the ceiling I have no idea how. Hope you have a wonderful day. Stay safe too.
This is not our first rodeo using this recipe. I even doubled everything because I know my family loves it so much.
From a plain flat bread to some fancy toppings, this is such a versatile recipe that it can adapt to what you need.
Definitely recommend it even for an amateur using yeast!
Thanks Sally!
Made this tonite and my husband and I both loved it. Dough was easy to make and so good. Used bread flour and made with Italian sausage, mushrooms and red peppers.
Sally once again you rock delicious!!!!
What a great recipe! This dough came together quickly and was very easy to work with. I didn’t need a rolling pin, and was able to shape the soft dough with just my hands. The added garlic and Italian seasoning in the dough pushed the taste over the top! I’ll definitely be making this again, especially if I’m short on time but still want something fresh and homemade. Wonderful as always, Sally!
The kids and I made this yesterday. So easy and so good! Probably the easiest yeast bread I’ve made. Can’t wait to make again and experiment with different toppings!
I doubled this bread recipe and we all loved it! It has that amazing beautiful crunchy crispy crust that was to die for! I WILL be making this again! Thanks
Could you please do a video on Instagram or something showing your set up when you are filming? Your lighting always looks perfect!
Just used this flatbread recipe to make BBQ ranch chicken flatbread for dinner. The dough was amazing! I’ll definitely be using it again with a variety of toppings.
Tasty, easy, versatile – another great Sally recipe.
I made this recipe tonight…SO SO good! It came together so quickly and had such a good texture. I put pesto, mozzarella and fresh tomatoes on ours. My husband wasn’t too crazy when he saw it (because of the tomatoes lol) but he couldn’t get enough! Thanks so much for this recipe Sally! It’ll be a regular recipe in my rotation! 🙂
Holy cow! So good, even having to reheat for a few seconds.
Made one with a bit of spaghetti sauce, pepperoni, sun dried tomatoes, parm and mozzarella. Added about 1 tbls of garlic powder and Italian seasoning (total) to the dough. The other half was just Parm and mozzarella.
Will definitely make again.
Made this recipe to just gave some quick flat bread for my homemade curry. With olive oil a little salt it was perfect for dinner. I made small rounds!
I’m running low on all purpose but have plenty of whole wheat flour. Do you think this could be adapted to use that instead?
Hi Esha, if using whole wheat flour, the dough may require a little extra liquid. It will also taste a bit denser. Let me know what you try!
Sally, could you make this dough in a bread machine, using the dough function , do you think? Would you still need to let it rise after removing from the bread machine? Thank you so much! I have trouble with my hands breaking out in a rash if I expose to flour etc. when kneading.
Hi Debbie! I wish I had a bread maker to test it, but I don’t. I can’t give any confident advice, but let me know if you try it!
Fantastic! Made this this morning! Used oregano, parsley and minced garlic in the dough and topped with shredded cheese and mushrooms. It tastes like the pizza parlor and my kids were excited when the came downstairs for breakfast! Thanks Sally for thinking of us with less ingredients. I had been putting off getting flour and sugar for a few weeks and now I can’t get them so we are on limited supply. Thank you!!!
Sally,
This is just what I was looking for! I make pizza every week, but I use a traditional pIzza dough recipe, pizza pans and my kitchen oven. Our new house came with a wood burning pizza oven. I know the dough I use would not be good for that…but I think this would be perfect.
What do you think?
Hi Amy! I can’t see why this dough wouldn’t work in a wood burning pizza oven. Let me know if you try it!
Just wondering if you have tried cooking the flatbread pizza recipe on a B.B.Q.? If so, I would love to know how to convert it to be cooked on a B.B.Q.
I certainly have! The same instructions you would use for grilled pizza apply here as well. Look up a quick tutorial (there are plenty online!). I don’t have one written out at this time. Let me know if you try it!
The recipe looks great and easy too. Hope your family is doing well.
Could you substitute white WW or regular WW flour in this recipe? Would there be any liquid modifications?
White whole wheat flour should work with no changes required. If using whole wheat flour, the dough may require a little extra liquid. Let me know what you try!