There’s this game I like to play. I call it “Good or Weird?” The game goes something like this... I come up with some strange recipe, outlandish flavor combination, or non-traditional way of using Outdoor Gourmet's grilling assortment. Then I feed my culinary oddity to whoever happens to be around, then intently stare at them while eat it.

“Good or weird?” I ask. More often than not, the answer is “good,” but I get my share of “weird” and more than a couple “weird, but good.” 

This game of gastronomic roulette is made all the more exciting because I have the Outdoor Gourmet manufacturing facility at my disposal. If there is an apparatus made of wood that can be used in preparation of food, I can (and do) get a stack made up to go all Dr. Frankenstein on.

So, here is a peak into the OG laboratories / test kitchens- the Baking Plank episode.

The dimensions: 13”x 17”x 1.25” The Wood Species: Cedar, Cherry, Alder, and Maple.

Baking Planks are basically just larger, thicker grilling planks.

You could soak one of these baking planks and use it just like a heftier grilling plank, but I wanted this to be reusable, so I opted to cure one of the Alder Baking Planks.

You will need...

Directions

1. Apply liberal amounts of oil over baking plank both sides, coating evenly and paying special attention to the ends. I suggest a "wax on, wax off" method. Let stand on cooling rack for 10 minutes, then give it one more coat, going with the wood grain.

2. Preheat oven to 300°, then place oiled baking plank on the broiler pan in oven and cook for 20 mins., then flip and cook for another 20 mins. Note: If you hear any snaps, crackles or pops, don't panic. That happens.

3. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 mins. Lightly coat with a bit more oil to seal. Now you have a reusable baking plank suitable for a "dry planking process."

Ok, now you have a baking plank. What to make?

Ingredients

3 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 Tablespoon sugar or honey

1 packet yeast (or, if from bulk, 2 teaspoons yeast)

1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups water, roughly at room temperature

2 tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil

1. Activate yeast, then mix with flour, salt, and sugar. Add olive oil and 1 ¼ cup of water. Mix with a wooden spoon. If all the flour doesn’t stick, add a touch more water.

2. Place ball on work surface and knead and mix on low with dough hook for 10 minutes, then place in lightly oiled bowl and roll ball around to coat with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or damp towel to rise until it has doubled in size (90-ish minutes). Once it has risen, punch it down, then roll into 8 pieces and cover for another 20 minutes.

3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Oil your baking plank and place on middle oven rack.

4. Sprinkle some flour on work surface and roll your dough balls out to rounds. They should be about 1/6 inch thick.

5. Open oven and place two or more pitas at a time on your baking plank and bake for 3 to 5 minutes, depending on how cooked / blistered you like your pitas. Note: Your pitas will puff up almost immediately. This is good, "I-don’t-have-a-TV"entertainment.

6. Remove from oven, cool, and enjoy with last week's Cedar Plank Roasted Garlic Hummus.

Or you could use pretty much any pizza dough recipe in the same way and top with your favorite sauce, cheese, and toppings.

For this round, I used fresh Mozzarella, Sage Monterey Jack, Grape Tomatoes, and Arugula topped with White Truffle Oil.

Welcome to your weekend. -KB

For this week's entry, we're going a little Greek.  Homemade Pitas with Hummus and Tzatiki with Greek Salad.

First- Soak Outdoor Gourmet Fromagier Line Cedar  Grilling Plank for an hour or more.

Next- Heat up your grill to Medium-Low Heat (300°) and cut the top off of a whole bulb of garlic.

Then- Drizzle with oilve oil and place sliced-side down on plank, then cover with foil.  Roast garlic on plank for about 30 minutes.

Finally- Remove foil and enjoy... or do what I did and add to hummus.

• Two 17 oz. cans of chick peas / garbanzo bean
• 2 Tablespoons of Tahini
• 1 bulb of plank roasted garlic
• Juice of 2 lemons
• 3 Tablespoons of sage
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 
  

Directions: Combine all ingredients together in food processor and tweak season as you go.  Add cayenne pepper for an extra kick!

• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced finely
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3 Tablespoons of fresh mint
  
• 1 cup greek yogurt, strained
• 2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and diced
• 1 tsp. chopped fresh dill

But the planking doesn't end there...  Oven Planked Pita Bread, but that's next weeks recipe.  Here's a teaser photo. Opa! Welcome to your weekend. -KB

Twice a year, the earth is neither tilted toward or away from the sun and for just a moment, (this year, around 17:32 Coordinated Universal Time) the earth's equator aligns with the center point of the sun before it begins to list again. Darkness and daylight are in perfect balance for a day and for us in the Northern Hemisphere, this marks the beginning of spring.

The vernal equinox has been celebrated for thousands of years and there is no lack of traditions and rituals surrounding the coming of spring.

For most ancient civilizations, the vernal equinox was the start of the New Year. The Roman year began on the ides of March and the astrological year begins on the first new moon after the equinox, which brings in the first astrological sign Aries, the ram. The Greek God Ares, the god of the ram, is the equivalent of the Roman Mars for whom the month of March is named. The Persian New Year, Nawruz also falls on the spring equinox.

The Saxons had a spring festival celebrating the goddess, Eostre (from whose name we get the direction East and the holiday Easter). Eggs were one of the symbols of this festival and represented new life and potential. During the equinox, there’s supposedly a certain gravitational pull that makes balancing an egg on its point possible. Thus, we have the tradition of the Easter egg.

All these different cultures had their own food traditions based essentially around the same idea: They survived the gray and bleak winter! Time to forage for something that hasn’t been in the root cellar for three months.

Although it is often anything but springy here in the northwest in March, rivers are teaming with the Steel Head run and a couple edibles things are beginning to poke through the soil. Asparagus, rhubarb, young herbs, leafy greens, wild onions/garlic and fiddleheads are coming soon.

Winter is over. We made it. Happy Spring!