There are moments in life that reset your expectations. Your three year old spontaneously tidies his room. Your sourdough starter finally decides to rise instead of staging a flour based coup. Or, in my case, you are reminded just how magnificent a perfectly executed Jacket Potato truly is.
I don’t know about you, but I often find myself falling into the trap of overcomplicating gluten free life. Why enjoy a meal when you can dedicate three hours to wrestling with a temperamental starter, or engaging in a thrilling product hunt for a specific GF flour that promises the fluffiest Yorkshire pudding? We live for the struggle, obviously. Then, you pull a crisp skinned, fluffy centred giant potato out of the oven. It’s comforting, it’s cheap, and here is the profound bit, it’s been naturally GF since the dawn of time. Imagine! No ingredient lists to check, no risk of cross contamination. The potato: an honest, starchy martyr in a world of dodgy bread.
We live for the struggle, obviously.
It’s a beautiful simplicity we clearly hate to embrace. While the rest of the world debates the latest expensive GF replacement, we can just sit back and enjoy the King of Carbs. I cracked mine open, injected it with enough butter to cause minor geological shifts, then piled it high with a totally appropriate amount of baked beans and a shameful quantity of mature cheddar. It was the kind of gloriously messy, completely unphotogenic meal that restores faith in humanity. Next time you’re tired, stressed, or just a bit hangry, skip the complicated recipe. Go bake the hero: the glorious, naturally gluten free jacket potato.
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