How to bake Potatoes?
Potatoes is the most commonly found food item in our kitchen not only children but adults also find potatoes very tasty. It is a filling comfort food with such versatility that it combines almost with everything and can be cooked using various techniques. Baking is one technique that cooks potatoes making them tasty and preserving the nutritional value. Baked potatoes can be eaten with a dash of butter, soup, curry, rice, meat or anything. Baking potatoes is not a very difficult task.
For baking a Potato, you will need a convection microwave oven. This oven is recommended as it has the property of heating the outer layer of the food faster and with that the inner layer becomes soft. For having the best taste of baked potatoes, it is to be eaten when they are soft inside and crispy outside! You can visit https://bestkitchenbuy.com/best-microwave-oven-in-india/ for knowing the features and reviews of the best convection oven.
You have to follow some very simple steps to bake potatoes.
1. >> First of all you should a good microwave oven with convection system or your regular oven used for baking toasting and grilling. Now get few things required like a large sized potato, oil, some salt and pepper. Equipment needed for baking potatoes include fork, baking sheet, and a foil.
2. >> Preheat the oven to medium high while you make preparations to bake potatoes.
3. >> Wash potatoes and scrub them to remove any traces of mud, pat dry them with a clean cloth or paper towel.
4. >> Prick the potatoes with a fork so that do not burst while baking due to steam pressure inside them
5. >> Rub a little oil over them with your hands and if you feel it clumsy use a kitchen brush.
6. >> Sprinkle a good dash of salt and pepper on the potatoes.
7. >> Now your potatoes are ready to go in the oven. just place them either directly over the rack in the oven or alternatively you can place them in a baking dish but remember to line the dish with foil below so that the potato do not stick to the bottom of the dish. Bake them for 40- 50 minutes on low to medium heat while flipping them every 10 minutes for even cooking. Do not cook them on high because that may leave them uncooked from core and char them outside.
8. >> When you get the yummy smell of baked potatoes just check them by pricking with a fork if they are cooked. Potatoes with crisp covering and soft fluffy inside are ready to eat.
Another method is to bake potatoes by wrapping them in a foil and then roasting in the oven. This way you will get a softer skin and potatoes will remain warm for a longer time and will give you enough time to prepare some topping or curry.
If you want to do them in a microwave just rub some oil on clean potatoes, season with salt and pepper, prick them and put in a microwave safe dish and just microwave them on full power for four minutes, flip them and give it another 3 – 4 minutes. You will get potatoes cooked superfast. This technique is useful when you want soft cooked potatoes urgently.
One more way is to use a slow cooker for baking potatoes. Just wrap the seasoned potatoes in a foil and place them in a slow cooker, cover the lid and let them cook on low.
You may choose any method to bake potatoes but you must prick them before cooking as it will let the steam move out and potatoes will not burst while cooking and you will get beautiful, tempting, delicious baked potatoes.
The end result of baking also depends on the variety of potato you have chosen. Russet potatoes are best option as they have sweet taste and flavor and become fluffy on baking. If you don’t get them try to get large potatoes, which are round and well shaped.
You can try different fillings also while baking them. Give a not so deep incision to the potatoes vertically and fill anything like seasoned meat and cheese and tie them with a thread and follow any baking method. You can also cut the potato from top, hollow it middle with a sharp knife keeping thick edges and fill them with a filling of your choice. Close it with the top cut piece and bake as usual.
Baked potatoes make an excellent side dish no matter which way you do them.
