Knead for speed: Margo and Rosa Flanagan’s easy vegetarian flatbread pizza recipes

Flatbread pizza is the perfect canvas to get creative. Think of these recipes as guidelines and substitute and use whatever ingredients you have at home, especially anything that needs to be used up.

Flatbread dough

If you aren’t using all the dough at once, roll the leftover pieces into a ball, cover it and store in the fridge for up to three days.

Active prep 10 minutes
Rise time 3 hours
Makes 3 flatbread bases

½ cup cold water
1 tsp instant dried yeast
Pinch of raw sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp oil, plus extra for greasing
2 tbsp water

Place the water, yeast and sugar in a bowl. Set aside for 10 minutes. It should start to become foamy. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and sea salt, making a well in the centre. Add the yeast mixture, oil and extra water.

Use your hands to form a dough in the bowl. Place the dough on a lightly floured bench and knead for about five minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Drizzle a small amount of oil into a clean bowl and use your hands to rub the oil around the inside surface. Place the dough into the greased bowl and gently coat in the oil.

Cover the bowl with beeswax wrap or clingfilm and set aside in a warm place to rise for about three hours, or until the dough has doubled in size. Once the dough has doubled in size, lightly flour your bench again and form the dough into a long cylinder.

Divide the dough into three pieces and use a rolling pin to roll them out ready to be topped.

Zucchini, pesto and capers flatbread

This is Rosa’s favourite flatbread recipe. Changing up the traditional tomato base for a pesto one makes a fresh, summery, vibrant pizza.

Dough, recipe above, rolled out into three individual flatbreads
Pesto (homemade or store-bought)
2 zucchinis, very thinly sliced with a peeler
250g cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tbsp capers
150g feta, optional

To serve
Pesto
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
Extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 190C.

Arrange the three flatbread bases between two baking trays. Spread the pesto generously over the bases, followed by the zucchini slices, cherry tomatoes and capers. Scatter over the feta, if using.

Bake the flatbreads for 15 minutes, remove from the oven and top with extra dollops of pesto, sea salt, black pepper and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.

Cut into slices and serve while warm. These are best served and eaten straight from the oven.

Smoky tomato, caramelised onion and eggplant flatbread

Chipotle peppers and smoked paprika add an amazing smokiness to this thick tomato garlicky sauce in this recipe, which is Margo’s all-time favourite. The relish is also great in sandwiches or as a dip for fries.

Any you don’t use will keep in an airtight container or jar in the fridge for up to two weeks.

For the relish
1 can (400g) chopped tomatoes
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, roughly chopped
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic, crushed and roughly chopped
½ tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp ground cumin
Pinch of chilli flakes
1 tsp sea salt
Black pepper, to taste

For the flatbread
Dough, rolled out into three individual flatbreads
Smokey tomato relish
Caramelised onions, home- made or store-bought
2 eggplants, cut into sticks and roasted
3 stalks kale, stalks discarded and leaves roughly ripped into small pieces
150g feta, optional

To serve
Handful of rocket
¹⁄₃ cup toasted pine nuts
Sea salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
Extra-virgin olive oil

To make the relish place all ingredients into a small pot, stir and bring to a simmer. Cook for about 15 minutes, until fragrant and thick. Stir occasionally to prevent relish burning on the bottom of the pot. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

To make the flatbread preheat the oven to 190C.

Arrange the three flatbread bases between two baking trays. Spread the tomato relish generously over the bases, followed by the caramelised onions and roasted eggplant. Scatter over the kale pieces, followed by the feta, if using.

Bake the flatbreads for 15 minutes.

Once cooked, remove from the oven and top with rocket, pine nuts, sea salt, black pepper and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil. We like to dollop some extra relish on top too.

Cut into slices and serve while warm.

• This is an edited extract from Simple Fancy by Margo and Rosa Flanagan, available now from Allen and Unwin ($39.95)