Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F, and make sure that you have an oven rack in the center position. If you are using a convection oven, be sure you are using the convection mode.
Wash and scrub the potatoes with water and either a kitchen towel or a vegetable scrub brush to remove dirt.
Poke holes all over each potato with a fork. This gives the steam a designated escape route and keeps the potato from bursting.
Place the wire cooking rack inside the rimmed baking sheet.
Arrange the prepared potatoes in a single layer on the wire rack, and place the baking sheet on the center rack of the preheated convection oven.
Bake for 60-80 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 205 degrees Fahrenheit, flipping the potatoes halfway through. The size of the potatoes will have a huge effect on the cooking time. Smaller potatoes will cook faster than larger ones.
You can check the doneness of the cooked potatoes with an instant read thermometer. Insert the thermometer probe into the center of the potato. The internal temperature of a perfectly cooked baked potato will be between 205 and 212 degrees Fahrenheit. Any cooler, and the texture won't be fluffy and amazing. Any hotter than 212 degrees F and it will start to overcook and dry out.
Once the potatoes reach an internal temperature of around 205 degrees, remove them from the oven, and use either a pastry brush or the back of a spoon to brush them with olive oil and sprinkle salt on top of the potatoes. Return them to the oven for another 5-10 minutes to crisp up the golden brown potato skins. No need to brush the bottoms of the potatoes unless you really want to.
Slice the tops of the potatoes immediately, and serve with toppings.
