Baked Potatoes

Kimia

Why do my baked potatoes always take FOREVER to cook? I have 2 large ones in the oven for the past hour and a quarter and they are still rock hard.

I have tried everything since I've started cooking (well over 4 years now) and I cannot figure baked potatoes out. I have done them in foil, not in foil, dusted with salt and rubbed with oil, I always pierce them with holes so they cook on the inside and don't explode.

I have them cooking now in a regular (non fan) oven on over 200 degrees celcius for the last hour and a quarter and nothing. They'll be another 30 minutes I'd say.

I wanted them twice baked so i'll be waiting AGES now!

The Hill Billy

One tip that I've heard of is to stick a metal skewer through the middle of the spud. Apparently this helps get the heat through the center of the potato & thus cook it quicker.

Tree

Large spuds take an hour and a half alright. Maybe an hour for a medium/small one. Best bet is to start them early and ignore them, and bake more than you want, you can rebake them tomorrow or the day after (or slice them and fry them).

shinikins

Have you tried thrice cooking them? Par boil them, bake them once and then bake a second time-I've always done that with larger potatoes. You can do the first two steps with a batch of them and freeze before baking the last time, handy to have on hand.

Gavin "shels"

Give them a head start in the microwave, about 3.30 mins for one potatoe, we'd usually do about 6 between us and leave them for 6 mins.

emeraldstar

Yeah, I always give baked potatoes about an hour and a half in the oven. Bigger ones definitely need this long at least, so your time doesn't seem overly long to me. If I don't want to wait so long I start them off in the microwave, as a previous poster said. Did this last night actually - 5 minutes in the microwave then 15 mins in the (fan) oven at 180. And it was yum.

Kimia

We don't have a microwave. It took well just under two hours and they still weren't fluffy on the inside but I literally couldn't wait any longer. I think I'll just have to bung em in and just be patient.

phormium

It would be nearly worth your while to buy a microwave, you would save the cost pretty quick as having the oven on for 2 hours to cook a couple of spuds is expensive. Can pick them up very cheap these days. Another option is one of those halogen ovens, they are way faster than normal oven and give really crispy outside, useful for lots of things.

I'm just tight, it would break my heart to use that much power for 2 spuds, but maybe you have other stuff in oven at same time, I wouldn't mind doing that if I was baking a batch of tarts, brown bread or something at the same time.

the beer revolu

The Hill Billy wrote: »

One tip that I've heard of is to stick a metal skewer through the middle of the spud. Apparently this helps get the heat through the center of the potato & thus cook it quicker.

I use the handle of a teaspoon for this purpose. Speeds things up a lot.

Darkginger

I cooked twice baked potatoes last night, took an hour for the first cooking, and then another 15-20 mins after re-stuffing. I'm wondering if your problems could be because you're not pre-heating your oven? I put mine (fan-assisted) on at 200 degrees whilst I got the spuds ready - rubbed them with a little vegetable oil, and put on a baking tray, is all.

After an hour they were almost cooked, but not quite - for twice baked I like them to retain a bit of hardness, since it helps to keep the skins intact. Took 'em out, left the oven going, cut them in half, scooped the middles out with a teaspoon into a bowl, mixed in pre-cooked bacon bits, grated cheese, a chopped spring onion and a little butter and cream, seasoned with black pepper, mashed them up. Spooned the mix back into the shells, topped with more grated cheese and put them back into the oven for around 15 mins.

Perfect. I can only think it's the oven temperature that's off, either that or you're using massive potatoes!

martic

I love making baked potatoes esp. when having a BBQ, I get the large baking potatoes, prick them all over with a fork and cut an x across the top of it about 10mm deep(I dont use a measuring tape,just trying to get across a picture ) I then put them on a baking tray on beds of salt the same size as the potato and bake them at 200c for 1.5hrs. The salt draws the moisture out of the spud leaves the skin nice an crispy and the inside perfect.

Uncle_moe

I use Alton Brown's recipe,

poke holes with a fork all over (the holes allow steam to escape and makes for a fluffier potato

cover in a light film of oil (sunflower/peanut/rapeseed)

Sprinkle with sea salt, drawing out moisture ensures crispy skin.

Medium to large potatoes should only take 1 - 1.5 hours at about 200 clecius

vibe666

i heard a suggestion to make really light fluffy jacket spuds you should pierce all over with a big fork and then soak them in the fridge in a ziplock bag full of milk for at least 2 hours or overnight and then cook as normal.

i keep meaning to try it, but i always forget and have never actually managed to do it yet altho i've seen several reports of it working out really well.

billybudd

cover your baking dish with tin foil and not your potato, cook for 50 mins and remove tin foil and then cook for a further 15 to 20 mins uncovered, obviously this is for larger potatoes.