"Baking soda [what Americans call bicarbonate of soda] breaks down the pectin in the potato and draws starch to the surface. What do you get? Wonderful browning and a crispiness you wouldn't otherwise achieve.”
The baking soda makes the water alkaline, which helps to break down the surface of the potatoes, apparently. O. M. G. So good. Trust me, these extra crispy roasted potatoes are seriously good.
The baking soda bath breaks down the potato's pectin and draws the starch to the surface, which promotes browning and the satisfying crispiness that only a perfectly roasted potato can deliver.
America's Test Kitchen often recommends adding baking soda to the water in which you will boil potatoes, which further coaxes out the starch molecules. Aim for ½ teaspoon baking soda for every 8 to 10 cups or water, or 2 to 3 pounds of potatoes.
Meanwhile, the alkaline water helps the exteriors of the potatoes break down more, creating much more of the starchy slurry that leads to an extra-crisp exterior. About a half teaspoon of baking soda for two quarts of water was the right amount.
Vinegar allows you to boil the potatoes the longest and keep them firm but I didn't get the soft outer surface I wanted. (I did get very creamy middles though!) Good, but not quite. Baking soda starts softening the outside right away, long before the middles are cooked.
Boil your potatoes - with or without skin - in alkaline water: add salt and baking soda to boiling water and throw your potatoes in, then let them cook until they're soft (but not too much!).
Bicarb soda (bicarbonate soda) or bicarb of soda are different names for the same thing. In the U.S. it is known as baking soda. It is a pure ingredient, so is naturally gluten free. It requires an acidic ingredient in the recipe such as lemon juice, buttermilk, chocolate or honey, to activate the rising quality.
If you want baked potatoes with crispy skins, you need to bake them unwrapped. Wrapping potatoes in foil makes the skins soft since the foil traps steam inside. Be generous with the salt. Use a coarse salt, such as flaked sea salt or coarse Kosher salt and generously sprinkle it all over the potatoes before baking.
Don't overcrowd the potatoes on the pan.
Overcrowding will cause heat from the pan to get trapped under the potatoes and cause them to steam instead of roast. Start with a hot oven – Preheat the oven before adding the potatoes. This will help to create a crispy exterior while keeping the interior soft and fluffy.
Just a pinch of baking soda is all you need to create mashed potatoes as soft as clouds. When you add baking soda, it reacts with the heat of the dish and the acid in the milk or cream to create small air pockets throughout the mash. These air bubbles translate to light and airy bites. Yum!
When it comes to the perfect roasting potato, not all are created equal. To get a crispy outside and creamy middle you'll need a floury potato. In Australia, the best varieties are Dutch Cream, Desiree, Coliban or Sebago. Start with any of these and you're well on the way to the perfect roast potato.
Adding oil to potatoes before baking is perfectly fine, just a personal preference. Without oil the Idaho russet skin bakes up crispy, with oil the skin will carry a lot of the flavor of the oil so some people have a preference for using olive oil or peanut oil.
“When you add baking soda to boiling water, sodium bicarbonate breaks down into three compounds: sodium carbonate, water, and carbon dioxide,” says Sharma. “Sodium carbonate in water has a much higher pH than sodium bicarbonate [baking soda] in water, so that aids the pectin degradation.”
Vinegar causes the potatoes to form a thin crust that further helps in retaining their shape. Vinegar increases the acid pH levels of water which further helps the potato just like when you add a little salt to the water while boiling eggs.
Rumor has it that an un-pricked spud will explode in the oven—but in all actuality, that's unlikely. Conventional wisdom says that when you bake a potato, you have to prick it with a fork all over a few times, piercing the skin to allow steam to release.
Wrapping potatoes in foil produces a soggy potato because the foil holds in moisture and steams the potato. This recipe cooks the potatoes on a baking sheet (or even directly on the oven rack) for evenly cooked potatoes with perfectly crisp skin.
What is baking soda? Baking soda and bicarb soda refer to the same thing. Australia, New Zealand and the UK use the term bicarb soda, while the US refers to it as baking soda.
Baking Soda And Vinegar
Although mixing vinegar and baking soda is not considered dangerous, you should still avoid mixing these in a container. Vinegar is acidic and basic soda is basic, so the by-products are sodium acetate, carbon dioxide, and water that are not toxic.
If you're substituting baking soda for baking powder, you also need to add an acid to the recipe. If you do not, you'll be left with that metallic or soapy taste and flat, dense, hard baked goods. Try this instead. (1 part baking soda to 2 parts cream of tartar).
Soaking potatoes in water helps remove excess starch. Excess starch can inhibit the potatoes from cooking evenly as well as creating a gummy or sticky texture on the outside of your potatoes. Cold water is used because hot water would react with the starch activating it, making it harder to separate from the potatoes.
If you don't have baking soda, you can use baking powder, at three times what the recipe calls for. So if a recipe calls for one teaspoon of baking soda, you can use three teaspoons of baking powder. Baking powder also contains a little bit of salt, so it's also a good idea to halve the salt the recipe calls for.
For most potato dishes it's important to add the potatoes to cold water and allow the water to come to a boil with the potatoes in the water. The potato starch can react as soon as it comes in contact with hot water, which will promote uneven cooking and mealy potatoes.