When people ask me what my blog is about, I say that it is about fitting ambitious food into family life. This recipe is exemplifies what that tagline means to me. This flatbread can either be a quick weeknight meal or a cool, all-from-scratch, DIY project depending on how you approach it. You can make this seasonal, vegetarian flatbread in no time at all by using refrigerated pizza dough and store-bought pesto and ricotta. On the other hand, you can take this recipe to the next level by making the pizza dough, the pesto or the ricotta — or all three! — yourself.

I’m not going to lie: when I made this recipe, I made the pizza dough, the pesto and the ricotta from scratch. But, hello! This is my job. Also, I have a very nice bread machine which allows me to make homemade pizza dough in less than an hour with almost no work on my part. And doing things like making ricotta and pesto is how I have fun. (A friend once asked me what I would do with a whole day to myself and I said without hesitation: “I would cook.”)

To tell the truth, for me, making pizza dough and ricotta from scratch is the kind of thing I do to procrastinate. I probably had laundry to fold and camp forms to fill out the day I made this flatbread. But I could convince myself that spending my time on these kitchen projects instead of those more pressing tasks was worthwhile because it was in the service of dinner. Not very convincing, right? You see, I struggle with fitting my food ambitions into my family’s life.

Thus, this recipe has three levels of ambition. One, a homemade dinner with store-bought ingredients. Two, a homemade dinner with a mix of homemade and store-bought ingredients. And three, a dinner made completely from scratch. Choose the level that works best for you and your family.  If level one is where you are at, there’s no shame in that. To the contrary, making a homemade dinner is something to be proud of in this day and age. I would be delighted if the level one version of this recipe made one person’s night go a little smoother.

But if you are so inclined, I hope that you will try making some of the ingredients for this flatbread yourself. Making ricotta is a great entry-level DIY project because it’s fairly straightforward and requires no special ingredients or equipment. All you will need is whole milk, cream and an acid: either lemon juice or buttermilk. The only specialized equipment required is cheesecloth, but really, every well-equipped kitchen should have cheesecloth in it. You will find many recipes for homemade ricotta online. I like this one from food blogger Jennie Perillo or this one from Smitten Kitchen’s Deb Perelman for their clear explanations of the technique involved. The fresh flavor and creamy texture of homemade ricotta will make you very glad that you gave this project a try!

It’s a great time of year for asparagus!

As for homemade pizza dough, as I mentioned, I make mine in a bread machine on the “dough” cycle. It’s so easy that it hardly counts as a DIY project. My recipe combines 7/8 of a cup of warm water, 2 TB olive oil, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1 3/4 cup bread flour, 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp. sugar and 2 tsp. yeast. I put it all the bread machine and 50 minutes later, perfect pizza dough emerges.

Before I had my bread machine, however, I used to buy refrigerated pizza dough at my local Whole Foods or Italian grocer and I found it to be a great trick for getting quick pizza dinners on the table. So, do not hesitate to buy the pizza dough to make this flatbread recipe if that works better for you.

Pesto is another ingredient that you can make or buy depending on your inclination and schedule. I like to make all kinds of pestos, not just basil. Whether you use pine nuts or a tree nut like almonds or walnuts, I recommend toasting the nuts to bring out their flavor. A little squeeze of lemon juice will also keep the green color more vibrant.

Whether you are looking for a quick and easy dinner or a make-it-all-from-scratch project, I hope that you will give this flatbread a try!