Baked Potato — Crisp Skin, Fluffy Interior

Bake a potato at 205°C (400°F) for 60–75 minutes for a medium-sized russet (225–280 g), or until the internal temperature reaches 98°C (208°F) and a knife slides through the centre with zero resistance. This is the correct method for a baked potato with crisp, salted skin and a dry, fluffy interior that shatters into starchy clouds when split open. Wrapping in foil is not baking — it is steaming, and it produces a wet, dense, gluey potato that no amount of butter can rescue. The variety matters absolutely. Russet Burbank is the standard for baked potatoes — its high starch content (20–22%) and low moisture create the dry, mealy texture that defines the style. Yukon Gold, a medium-starch waxy-floury hybrid, bakes adequately but produces a creamier, denser interior that lacks the dramatic fluffiness. Red-skinned potatoes and fingerlings are waxy varieties with high moisture and low starch — they are wrong for baking and right for roasting and boiling. If you cannot get Russets, look for King Edward or Maris Piper in the UK, or Kennebec in speciality markets. The method is simple but unforgiving. Scrub the potatoes under cold water and dry them thoroughly — moisture on the skin turns to steam and prevents crisping. Rub the entire surface with a thin film of olive oil or vegetable oil, then coat generously with flaky salt — kosher salt or Maldon. The oil conducts heat into the skin more efficiently than dry air alone, and the salt draws out surface moisture while the potato bakes, creating a micro-crust that crackles when you press it. Pierce each potato four to six times with a fork or paring knife to allow steam to escape; without venting, pressure can build and — rarely but memorably — cause the potato to burst. Place directly on the oven rack, with a sheet pan on the rack below to catch any drips. Do not use a baking sheet under the potato — contact with the flat surface steams the bottom skin, making it soggy. At 205°C, the exterior dehydrates and the Maillard reaction browns the skin's natural sugars and amino acids. Meanwhile, the interior starch granules absorb the potato's own moisture, swell, and burst — this is gelatinisation followed by retrogradation as the steam escapes, and it is what creates that airy, fluffy texture. This is where the dish lives or dies: the moment you split the potato. Immediately upon removing from the oven, cut a deep cross into the top and squeeze the ends toward each other. The starchy interior erupts upward into a rough, craggy surface with enormous surface area — this is where butter melts into every crevice, where sour cream clings, where chives and black pepper find purchase. If you slice it flat and press it open, you compress the starch, lose the fluff, and reduce the surface area by half. The squeeze is not optional. The quality hierarchy: (1) A competent baked potato is cooked through with no hard centre. (2) A great baked potato has skin that is crisp enough to audibly crackle when pressed, salted so thoroughly that each bite of skin is seasoned, with an interior so fluffy it resembles dry mashed potatoes before any butter is added. (3) A transcendent baked potato — and this method comes from the salt-crust school — is buried entirely in a bed of coarse salt (roughly 1 kg per potato), baked at 205°C for 90 minutes. The salt insulates and dehydrates simultaneously. The skin becomes a shell — tap it and it sounds hollow like terracotta. The interior is impossibly dry and fluffy, seasoned from the outside in. Brush off the salt and the potato is not over-salted — the skin acts as a barrier. Sensory tests: a fully baked potato, when squeezed with an oven mitt, yields easily and completely — no firm core. The skin should feel papery and taut, not soft or rubbery. The aroma is earthy and faintly sweet. If you detect a wet, starchy smell, the potato is undercooked.