Cooking basics: Baked Potato

I know people who make baked potatoes in a microwave. This makes me cringe.

I might be a bit of a food snob, but microwaved potatoes are, at best, cooked. They are not, as a properly baked potato should be, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

It's not difficult to bake a potato well. It certainly takes longer than it does in the microwave, but it's well worth the time. Most of that time is not spent actively so you can accomplish something else while you wait.

Here's what you need to do to bake the perfect potato.

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
2. Put the rack in the middle of the oven.
3. Scrub the potatoes. Make sure they're clean but you don't have to make them spotless. 
4. Rub a little olive oil all over the potatoes. It's easiest to use your hands, but you can use a pastry brush instead.
5. Season the potatoes with salt and pepper.
6. Prick the potatoes with a fork.
7. Put the potatoes on a foil lined cookie sheets.
8. Bake for an hour, turning the potatoes over every 20 minutes,
9. The potatoes are done when the skin is dry and you can feel that the inside is soft.