How to Bake the Perfect Potato

There are many reasons why our baked potatoes can often come out of the oven less than perfect. Often, they can be shrivelled up and overcooked on the outside and hard and under-cooked in the middle. I hope to look here at how we can avoid such occurences and make ourselves the perfect baked potato.

The very first thing we have to do is make sure that we use a type of potato suitable for baking. The varieties of potato which we have access to will vary by geographical area but if you are unsure, simply ask someone when making your purchase for advice.

Put your oven on to pre-heat to 200 degrees celsius/400 degrees fahrenheit/Gas Mark 6. Wash your potato(es) and dry it thoroughly. Next, take a metal skewer (the type used for making kebabs) and force it through the centre of the potato, length-wise. This will help to conduct the heat through the potato and avoid the dreaded hard centre at the end of the cooking time. Pierce the skin of the potato a few times with a fork to allow steam to escape.

Wrap the potato loosely in aluminium foil (shiny side inwards) and put it on a baking tray or sheet. Put it in the oven for about one and a quarter hours, or one and a half hours if it is a very large potato. After this time, remove it from the oven and withdraw the skewer. With your oven gloves on, squeeze the potato very gently all over to fluff up the inside. Unwrap the foil and make two cuts, one each along the length and across the breadth, about three-quarters of the way down in to the potato. Grab it underneath and gently squeeze the four corners inwards to open up the potato and get it ready for the filling.