Baking Potatoes...

[Katy]

Okay, I'll admit it, I've yet to master the baked potato. Tonight, I've decided to give it a shot. The challenge...I've no idea when the hubby will be getting home and they're pretty big potatoes.

Any chance I can pop them into the oven around 6:30 and cook them for an hour and then turn off the oven until we need them? Or any other suggestions?

[jaeger]

I cook mine the lazy way..I poke holes in them and throw them in the microwave for 5 minutes. Larger ones may need more time though.

[sublime311]

You can bake them until they are almost done (maybe 45 minutes) and then pop them in the microwave for a few minutes to finish them off as soon as he gets home.

By the way, recently I couldn't remember how to "do" baked potatoes so of course I googled it and found a super yummy trick: After washing, drying and poking some holes in the potatoes, spray with Pam/cooking spray and coat with course salt (like kosher or sea salt) and bake as usual. SOOOOOO yummy! I can't tell you how much the Pam and salt adds to the flavor of the potatoes!

Good luck!

[bookworm]

Yes, you can do that :). Put them in at 400 for an hour, and shut off the oven. They may sag a bit, but they'll still taste good. I'd guess you have about 30 minutes of flexibility that way.

If you really have zero idea when he'll be home, you can cook them in the microwave about halfway (maybe 7-10 minutes?) then bake at 450 for 20-30 minutes to crisp up.


ETA: If it takes 5 minutes to cook the potato in the microwave, I'll revise my "halfway" estimate to more like 3 mins

[irish74]

I recently started giving baked potatoes a head start in the microwave per Jacques Pepin's Fast Food My Way cookbook/show.

I think for 4 lg potatoes it is about 10 minutes total in the microwave, rotate & flip halfway through and then 400 or 425 (can't remember off hand) for about 20 minutes or until they are fork tender.

This works great because you get the speed of the microwave but the tastes/texture of the oven.

ETA I think it would be fine if you left them in the oven with the door shut but the heat off, the skins might be a bit extra crispy, but that is good if you ask me. Also, poke some holes in the first before the microwave or the oven.

[Katy]

Thanks ladies. As it's Friday, I *think* he'll be home by 8:00. Then again, since I just left him and I *know* he had a late (3:00) lunch. I might as well just wait until 7:00 or 7:30 to even start them. It's not like he'll be starving, right?

Kelli, I've had the oiled and salted skins before and was thinking about trying it as well. Thanks for the reminder.

Oh and part of my "failure" with baked potatoes comes from trying to microwave them first. Just didn't work for me. So I'm planning on doing it in the oven the entire time this time around.

Do I still poke holes if I'm baking them?

[bookworm]

Yes. Poke holes.

I usually don't, and only once has that proved to be a problem (all over my oven), but since you're already baked-potato-traumatized, do be safe and poke the holes.

[Katy]

LOL - thanks for the warning BookWorm! :D

[gnatters]

I'm probably posting this after you have already cooked them Katy but the way I cook my baked potatoes is:

nuke it for five minutes (poking holes through it of course) and put it in the oven (usually the toaster oven for me) at 400 for 45 minutes.

Before, I only put them in the oven for the full hour, and there was something just not right about them. I asked my Dad and he reccomended the nuking stage.

Of course, don't put it in the oven for 5 min and nuke it for 45. I made that mistake once, killing a microwave by having the potato catch on fire inside it. The potato was charcol through out. :eek:

~Natalie

[Katy]

Natlie, thanks. As a matter of fact, they've been in the toaster oven now for about 30 minutes. If this is successful, then I'll try the pre-baking-nuke-first way next time. And thanks for hte heads up on what NOT to do - LOL

[Jad]

Just have to say thank goodness I'm not the only one! Seems like it should be the simplest thing in the world. And yet, I can cook all kinds of other fancy things but haven't mastered the baked potato. :rolleyes:

I'll be trying these tips myself next time!

[Katy]

Are you kidding Jad, I just learned how to boil eggs this year (and shamelessly, I'm 36!!) :eek:

As for the potato, I wish I could say that we tried it and had a yummy meal. At the last minute (while Richard was driving home) he decided that we were doing dinner out, with a friend. So no baker, steak and yummy cabernet for us. Instead it was spagetti, pizza and cheap, red, table wine, family style for us!

[chefker]

I scrub the potatoes, poke them with holes, then rub them with olive oil; sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper. Then I bake them at 400 degrees for 30 minutes to an hour (depending on size).

In culinary school they told us do NOT wrap the potatoes in foil until you take them out of the oven! Which went against everythinng my mother told me. :) We always had wrapped them in foil and threw them in the oven, but apparently this makes them take longer to cook. It's better to wrap them in foil AFTER you take them out of the oven, this will hold the heat in until you're ready to serve them.

[nya]

In culinary school they told us do NOT wrap the potatoes in foil until you take them out of the oven!
Thank you so much for that tip!

[KarenS]

I scrub the potatoes, poke them with holes, then rub them with olive oil; sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper. Then I bake them at 400 degrees for 30 minutes to an hour (depending on size).Exactly what we do. I use my toaster oven as well, if it's just for the two of us. It takes less time to heat up and it cooks a little more quickly than the bigger conventional oven.

I also was taught growing up to wrap them in foil first but later learned that it's best not to - the skin crisps up so nicely and they seem to be fluffier if you cook them "bare"! :)

karen

[IrisHope]

I poke holes in them and microwave for 8 min. then throw in the oven to get it crispy.

[nixer]

...In culinary school they told us do NOT wrap the potatoes in foil until you take them out of the oven! Which went against everythinng my mother told me. :) We always had wrapped them in foil and threw them in the oven, but apparently this makes them take longer to cook. It's better to wrap them in foil AFTER you take them out of the oven, this will hold the heat in until you're ready to serve them.

Wow, I've never heard of this before, but I will definitely be trying it out. Do the skins get crisper that way too? We like the baked potatoes to have a slightly crispy skin, and I've been removing them from foil when they are done and baking a little longer to try to achieve the last minute crisping effect...not much success with that method though.

Irishope, that is a cool method for a quick baked potato meal, thanks for sharing. *adds to weekday time saver cooking techniques, along with things like microwave steaming of veggies, etc.*

[JillyBean]

Just have to say thank goodness I'm not the only one! Seems like it should be the simplest thing in the world. And yet, I can cook all kinds of other fancy things but haven't mastered the baked potato. :rolleyes:
That was me, too. I've messed up more baked potatoes than I care to count :rolleyes: I finally tried making them Alton Brown's way (http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_13948,00.html), and they turned out so good. Will definitely continue to make them that way.