How to Bake the Perfect Potato

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How to Bake the Perfect Potato

First we must agree on what a perfect baked potato is right? In my humble opinion, the perfect baked potato has a crispy seasoned golden brown skin and a light, white, fluffy texture inside. That is the goal. What you do to it once we achieve perfection is your choice. J

First you must select the proper potato. The proper potato needs to be one with high starch and low moisture. High Starch – Low Moisture potatoes are also described as having high solids. This type of potato has large starch granules and these granules expand and basically explode during the cooking process. This is what produces that fluffy inside that we are going to create.

Most everyone agrees that the Russet potato is the best for baking. That is what all the fine restaurants use. Idaho is famous for their Russet potatoes.

When selecting your russets at the store or produce stand, go to the individual potato bin and select your potatoes by size. This way they will all cook at the same time. Another reason to hand select your potatoes rather than just buying the bag is, you can make sure that the potatoes are blemish and bruise free.

The perfect Russet potato should have a reddish-brown skin. It should be long, slightly rounded and have a few shallow eyes. There should be no green color to the potato.

Buying the proper potato is important, and how you store it until it is time to cook it is important too! Potatoes have an amazing shelf life if properly stored. Ideally, they like to be in a dry, dark and cool (45-50 degree) environment. Do not store your potatoes in the refrigerator. This turns the natural starches into sugar, and that changes the whole potato. One more thing…do not store your potatoes next to other strongly scented items, onions especially.

When the time comes to prepare your baked potatoes, they will need to be washed thoroughly. They were grown in fertilized dirt, right? Wash each potato carefully with a potato brush or a clean new sponge, being careful not to damage the skin. The skin has lots of beneficial fiber and we want to eat it right? Place the potatoes on a clean paper towel and let them dry.

Sometimes a potato can explode in the oven during the baking process. It is not likely, but it can happen. To prevent this from happening to your baked potato, piece the potatoes a few times with the tines of a fork.

To achieve that golden brown tasty, crispy skin, we will want to lightly coat the skin with an oil of some kind. I use olive oil for its flavor, but any oil you have will be fine. Do not saturate the potato, just a very light coating will do. Too much oil will create a soggy skin.

Then we will want to season the potato. I use kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper on the job. At home I might even use a seasoning blend like Montreal Steak Seasoning. It just depends on what you are serving the baked potato with.

Once the potatoes have been given a bath, dried off, pierced, lightly oiled and seasoned, it is time to bake them.

Before you turn on your oven, arrange your oven racks as follows. Place one rack in the center of the oven and one rack below it. On the lower rack place an empty sheet pan or cookie sheet to catch any drippings from the potatoes that will cook directly on the rack above, with no pan. If you put the potatoes on a pan, they will form a hard spot on the bottom and we do not want that.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Once it has heated, carefully place the potatoes on the center rack above the sheet pan and close the door. An average Russet potato for baking will weigh about 8 ounces and will cook in about one hour and 30 minutes. Carefully turn your potatoes with a pair of tongs once during the cooking time to prevent over browning where they touch the racks.

To test for doneness you can lightly squeeze the potato. It should be soft. The ultimate and best test for doneness is to insert an instant read thermometer into the potato and look for an internal temperature of 210 degrees F.

If you chose to increase the temperature, you will cook the potato faster and have a drier skin. You may also have a drier potato, so that is why I recommend a temperature of 325 degrees.

Once the potato is perfectly cooked, you can open it by taking a fork and poking it into the top of the potato in a straight line from one end to the other and gently pinching in each end towards the center. This will expose the fluffy white interior of the potato.

Now comes the fun part…dressing your potato.

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