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Preheat the oven to 400F and have a rack set on the lowest rung.
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A standard home cook sheet pan is roughly 11×17 inches, and will accommodate 4 cups of grated potatoes. If you crowd it too much, the potatoes will not crisp up but rather turn into rösti or latkes, and that's a different recipe! If you want more potatoes, use a second parchment lined sheet. The parchment paper will ensure that the potatoes don't bake onto the sheet. This would be a waste of good potatoes.
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Peel the potatoes and grate them on the large holes of your box grater. Measure out 4 cups. I grate them right onto a large clean tea towel. Wrap the towel around the potatoes and squeeze the towel firmly to release as much of the potato juices over the sink as possible.
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Transfer the potato shreds to a large mesh strainer (you may need to do this in batches) Run cold water over them, moving them around with your fingers to get to all the residual starches. Transfer these potatoes to a clean towel. Wrap and pat them well. You will find that they feel totally different. Squeaky clean! If there is any leftover water, pat it off with a paper towel. Transfer the dried potatoes to a large bowl.
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Mix all the ingredients for the Spice Mix in a small bowl. Pour this over the potatoes and toss to coat the potatoes well.
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Spread the hash browns out in an even layer. Some overlap will happen, but try to get them as even as possible.
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If you are only serving two or three you may only be using the one sheet. Or if you are using a large full size sheet, the potatoes will fit on one side. Add the bacon slices to the other half of the baking sheet.
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Bake everything on the lowest rack for 15-20 minutes. At this point the bacon should be checked. Depending on how thick it is, it could be ready to come out. If not, leave it on the baking sheet. If the edges of the potatoes are browning nicely they are ready to move to the top rack.
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Watch the bacon to remove when ready.
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Bake the potatoes for 10-15 minutes on the highest rack of your oven.
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Moving the sheet pan higher in the oven will get a good crust on the bottom of the hash browns and then crisp up the top of the hash browns at the end. Do not adjust the temperature or stir the potatoes at all.
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Serve the bacon and potatoes with eggs, waffles, pancakes and whatever your little heart desires.