How to Bake Fabulously Light and Fluffy Baked Potatoes!
Yes, Baked Potatoes Can Be Fluffy and Light, Not Heavy and Soggy!
Baking potatoes to be light and fluffy rather than heavy and soggy is actually very simple ... and it's not even an old family recipe! Here's the big secret: no aluminum foil! Don't panic - the new method is just as easy as the old and your potatoes - and those eating them - will thank you!
Ingredients for Fluffy Baked Potatoes
Simple Secret for Light and Fluffy Baked Potatoes, Step 1
Large, smooth potatoes will work best, and you will get the best results with unbroken skin, so choose big, smooth potatoes that don't have eyes to dig out or bad spots to cut off.
The third ingredient is, simply, salt! I do strongly recommend 
A good assistant is essential to making fabulous baked potatoes!
Cover the potatoes completely with a coat of oil (easy to just rub it in by hand). Then salt HEAVILY all over the potato.
Why Oil and Salt the Potatoes?
The oil coating gives the potato skins a delightful crispness. The salt helps to draw moisture out of the potatoes as they steam inside their jackets.
Bake 45-60 min @ 450* until fork-tender. Halfway thru, turn over & prick potatoes to release steam.
When they are fork-tender, they are ready to eat! Enjoy your light and fluffy potatoes!
Foiled Again!
Wrapping the potato in foil traps
all the moisture inside, so it usually becomes heavy and soggy.
The salt draws the moisture out while allowing the potato to steam in its own jacket. Pricking the potato halfway through baking allows the rest of the moisture to escape for light and fluffy baked potatoes!
Where I Found This Great Cooking Tip - And where you can find lots more like it!
The Joy of Cooking is a total kitchen classic, in print since 1931, and it is where I found these simple steps to baking great potatoes. The older versions are generally considered better than the latest revisions, and fortunately are still in print because they are so popular! Julia Child says it's the one book she'd keep if she could only have one English title on the shelf.
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