Photos by Michael Piazza / Styled by Catrine Kelty

After several months of stay-at-home dinners, your usual pizza night could use a serious upgrade. Here is a new way to change it up and make use of the week’s leftovers. I created this menu as a simple, no-fuss, end-of-the-week meal. The salads are easy to adapt to whatever ingredients you have on hand. For instance, you could add any extra potatoes or zucchini from the flatbread recipes to the cucumber salad, or double the tomato-olive mixture to toss into the celery-parsley salad. The best part of this menu is that nothing is set in stone; plus, if you take the time to grill a batch of flatbreads and freeze them in advance, you can make a weeknight pizza from anything you like.

The simple flatbread dough takes only an hour to make and rise and doesn’t require any kneading. If you don’t have an hour to spare—or don’t feel like grilling—add your toppings to a thick pita or store bought naan bread and pop in a 400°F oven for 15–20 minutes. You will have to divide the toppings accordingly depending on the size of the pita/naan.

With all this extra time spent at home, why not play around with new toppings? Experiment with spreads, cheeses, leftovers from your fridge and new ingredients from the garden or farmers market to build unique flatbreads every week of the summer months. Pizza night will never be the same again.

GRILLED FLATBREAD: MASTER RECIPE

This simple dough can be made in an hour and grilled in under 10 minutes. It makes 4 large flatbreads or you can make it into 8 smaller ones. You can eat them as-is alongside a meal, like you would with store-bought naan, or top them like pizzas with whatever ingredients you have on hand. Double the recipe and make extra to freeze and use later.

Makes 4 large or 8 small flatbreads

2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon instant yeast
1¼ cups warm water (90 to 95°F)
3 cups all-purpose flour
extra-virgin olive oil as needed for grilling

In a large bowl, proof the yeast by mixing the salt, sugar, yeast and water. Let it stand for 8 minutes. There will be a light froth.Mix in the 3 cups of flour with a wet hand. Working in the bowl, mix until well combined. If the dough seems too dry, wet your hand again and keep mixing. You should not need to wet your hand more than 3 times. The dough will be firm and tacky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest in a warm place to rise for 45 to 60 minutes.

Meanwhile, light a charcoal grill and make sure the grate is very clean. If you are making topped flatbreads, use this time to prepare your toppings and salads.

When the dough is ready, it will have puffed up. Transfer onto a lightly floured surface, cut into 4 pieces, cover with a towel and let rest for 10 minutes.

Roll dough into ovals roughly 12 by 6 inches. They don’t need to be perfect! That is the beauty of flatbreads. They should, however, be even in thickness. Transfer onto a sheet pan to carry to the grill along with a brush and a small bowl of olive oil.

Brush 1 side of the dough with oil and transfer to the grill, oiled side down. Fit as many as you can on the grill at 1 time—but I find that 2 at a time works best, especially if topped.

Cover the grill for 2 to 3 minutes or until the top of the dough is puffed up and bubbles up and the bottom is nice and golden. Brush the uncooked side with oil and turn over to grill. Cover for another 2 minutes, check for doneness by lifting with a pair of tongs.

Remove from the grill and proceed with the rest of the dough. Serve as-is or freeze for easy weeknight pizza crusts; just top and bake at 450°F until cheeses are melted or other toppings are warmed through.

(If making the flatbreads in this story, follow the grilling instructions in each recipe.)

Featured