Salt can help to create the lightest and fluffiest baked potatoes you’ve ever had, but probably not in the way you think. When the chefs over at America’s Test Kitchen found that many of their baked potatoes were coming out dense and crumbly, they started to look for a solution to the problem. What they came up with was the salt bed method, which ultimately helps potatoes to reabsorb the moisture they lose when they’re baking. Here’s how, and why, it works:

And here are the ingredients you need to following America’s Test Kitchen recipe for baked potatoes with roasted garlic and rosemary butter:

-2 1/2 cups plus 1/8 teaspoon salt
-4 russet potatoes, scrubbed and dried
-2 sprigs plus 1/4 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
-1 whole head garlic, outer papery skin removed and top quarter of head cut off and discarded
-4 teaspoons olive oil
-4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened