Can't get enough of you NL

Since I have been living in France, I find the urge to get out of the country every now and then and our geographic location allows us to do so.

Last Saturday we were in Lille for a wine exhibit and then headed to Ikea.  I think I'm getting agoraphobic when going in the City. So many rude people in the store.  I even saw a little fight in the women's bathroom: "Hey I was there first." Too much people leads to agressiveness.  This is what we encounter everyday in France, you have fight to survive.  I don't even exagerate.  

So whenever we get a chance to leave France, even for a few hours, we just do. So we chose our favorite destination, the Netherlands. England is relatively close but you need to take a ferry to get there and you need pounds, so the NL it is.

We knew that the weather wasn't on our side, but surprisingly we had a sunny day the second day we were there.                                      

Our 2-day trip:

Breda, Bergen Op Zoom, Middelburg, Vlissingen

                                                      Notice the huge A on the left:  Breda

                                                                          Middelburg

 We've been to the Netherlands numerous times and we will never get tired of it.   and we can say the the Zeeland is one of the most beautiful regions.  If you are looking for a nice getaway from the hectic city life, that is a good place to visit.

Tot Ziens!

White Pizza

Hey there.  I know, I'm not posting as much as I used to.  There's not much to say, I could go on diatribes against the French Government...there is a lot to say about it.  But my blog is supposed to be light and enjoyable to read right?

So on to the real subject of this post : Pizza!  

Before coming to France, I've never done a pizza from scratch.  I learned that from my MIL.  My in-laws had a huge garden, with tomatos full of sun and they were so sweet.  The tomato sauce was a delight.  My MIL used a store-bought kit (Pâte à pizza F.r.a.n.c.i.n.e) to make the dough.  When you read the ingredients: wheat flour, vegetable oil and yeast, for more than 2 euros!  Ridiculous when you think about it.  A pack of flour is only 0,60 euros and dry yeast isn't expensive either.

So about the white pizza, I never really had one before arriving here.  French love their pizza with "chèvre" (goat cheese) and other stinky cheeses.  Some even have potatoes on it.  The crusts may be thin but the toppings are quite heavy.



The Dough (yields 2 medium size crusts, thin ones)

300g of flour
150 ml of lukewarm water
30g of vegetable or olive oil
7g of sugar
8g of dry yeast
pinch of salt


In the warm water, dissolve the dry yeast.  The water must not be too hot otherwise the yeast will no longer be active.
In a mixer (food processor) put the flour, and the water-yeast mixture, add the oil, sugar and salt and start pulsing.  Pulse until it makes a nice ball of dough.  Of course, if you don't have a food processor or mixer, you can kneel the dough by hand for about 10 minutes.

Let the dough rest for 1 hour.  Cut the dough in half and roll with a rolling pin and scretch the dough on a pizza pan.

White pizza topping
Instead of the tomato sauce, you put sour cream (crème fraîche).  Add your favorite cheese and vegetables and meat.

Making your own pizzas is satisfying.  You choose your own toppings and it is really cheap to make.  I would say less than 2 euros for each.  Making your own pizza dough is not difficult at all and doesn't take forever to make.

Enjoy!