Friday Night is our village's Pizza Night at Pumpjack & Piddlewick

Wednesday night is Pizza Night here in my village. A truly special treat. The boulangerie (bakery) sets up a pizza oven outside the shop, on the sidewalk, and makes the most amazing wood fired pizzas.

My Village

I am lucky in that the centre of my small village boasts 3 places to eat/drink. Each varies in what they offer, from basic to 3 courses.

The Bistro is the place to eat at lunch time, as the big meal of the day here is at mid-day. They close at 6pm, so no dinner on offer. Instead early evenings are a choice of only drinks or take aways, depending on which night. But Wednesday’s, the boulangerie sets up, adding to the atmosphere of mid-week being special.

My Favourite Pizza

The Boulangerie makes pizzas typically Italian in style; thin crust, not laden with too much so the dough has a little crispness to it rather than soggy. And of course that wood fired taste. My favourite pizza I have discovered is the goat’s cheese and honey pizza. Go figure. I certainly didn’t expect it.

I worked my way down the list of 4 choices, purposefully, with the goat’s cheese being the last. I had never had goat’s cheese on a pizza. But when you live near the Loire River, you come to learn more than you would ever wish to know about it. It’s the main cheese of choice in the valley. And it is nothing, I repeat nothing, like what you would expect. Especially if you come from the USA.

Anyway, back to this unique pizza for the area. It consists of the pizza dough, a layer of rocket (arugula) slices of creamy white goat’s cheese and then a drizzle of honey. And, my oh my, it is ah-may-zing. And now my go to pizza on pizza night.

French Pizza

Not all pizzas are made the same in France. There is the Italian influence (my boulangerie), but French style pizza can sometimes be like a tart. A savoury tart, think quiche but not so thick or dense. Generally puff pastry seems to be the preferred dough. It still tastes yummy, but it is very definitely different from what I at least think of as typical pizza.

In quirky French fashion, you are supposed to phone in your order, or drop by if you prefer during the day. You are then told what time to come collect it. There’s no pizza delivery here. You have to go to the pizza, not the other way around.

Weird Pizza

Did you know that (supposedly) the French are the largest consumers of pizza in the world? That’s what I’ve heard. And I would believe it. Most village boulangeries will offer pizza in some format for lunches, often smaller than an average pizza. Some will even offer slices. There are pizza vans, vans that come to your village once a week, on a designated night, making fresh pizzas. My last village was like that.

And some, wait for it, some villages offer pizza kiosk machines. Usually situated along the road, sometimes near laundry facilities (smart), some near camping places, some just randomly found where it was deemed necessary. You put in your money (or card) and wait, and ultimately you get a hot pizza.

I haven’t tried one as yet. It’s on the list – but when there is so many better choices on offer the opportunity has simply not yet presented itself. I would hazard a guess the pizzas are okay. That sort you get in the supermarket that are already prepared and you just need to heat. So not too bad, not too great, but does the job.

French Fast Food

But why do the French love their pizza so much? Well, first of all, it is pizza. Next, although a ‘fast food’ in the sense that it is not a prepared at home meal, it still generally a healthier one than other fast foods. And when it comes to nights off cooking, fast food reigns supprime here. A real treat.

So it sort of makes sense that pizza is so popular. And it certainly doesn’t hurt that local boulangerie’s (of which a good majority of villages have them) make pizza too. At least one night a week.