Still more Jaime (3) - Flour and water crust chicken

This is a popular idea in Singapore now but I won't attribute it to Jaime. We have the 'curry in a bread' idea here which is basically the same idea - bake a curry in a bread and presto, u get both! Jaime thought up this recipe as a easy-no fuss and no mess way to transport your chicken and bread to a picnic!

Taken from Jaime Oliver's forum but the recipe comes from "Happy Days with the Naked Chef"

Ingredients (Serves 4)
(Jaime's comments) This is a great dish to serve up to friends - they'll wonder if you've gone a bit mad when you produce what looks like a huge lump of pastry and put it in the middle of the table! It's a great way to cook chicken - the meat steams inside the pastry crust and becomes incredibly tender. I've used nice small spring chickens, or poussins, in this recipe but it's just as easy to use one 2kg/4.5lb bird and roast it for 2 hours instead. ps. you don't eat the pastry! (altho u can eat the crusty bits with the juices from the chicken)
905gr/2lb plain flour
2 fat lemons
2 handfuls of fresh sage leaves, picked
1 handful of fresh thyme leaves, picked
picked 8 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 spring chickens

Method
1) Put your flour into a large bowl, and mix in around 500ml/18fl oz of water, bit by bit, until you have a dough that is pliable and elastic and not too sticky. Cover and put to one side while you prepare the chickens.
2) Using a peeler, remove the peel from 1 of the lemons and bash up with the sage, thyme and garlic, in a pestle and mortar, or use a metal bowl and a rolling pin. Add your olive oil and plenty of seasoning. This flavourful marinade is great with just about all kinds of meat.
3) Roll up your sleeves and rub the marinade all over the chickens as well as inside the cavity.
4) Slice the remaining lemon and stick a slice or two inside the cavity of each chicken.

In the show, Jaime puts the lemon in a pot of boiling water for about 10 mins while he seasons the bird. He then scores it with a knife and sticks it into the cavity of the chicken (this is 1 big chicken instead of 4 spring chickens). According to him, the lemon will 'explode' and ooze flavour everywhere.

5) Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/gas7.
6) Get your dough mix, divide it into 4 pieces, and roll each one out to about 0.5cm/1/4inch thick.
7) Now mould a piece of dough around each of the chickens so that you have 4 airtight parcels. Leave for 5 minutes, then bake in the preheated oven for an hour. The crust will harden during cooking, steaming and protecting the chicken while keeping all the lovely juices inside which will give you a fantastic homemade gravy.
8) Let the chickens rest for 15 minutes after baking, then bring them to the table and for a bit of drama, crack open each crust in front of your guests. You'll unleash a wicked aroma, steam, the lot, so waft it around a bit. Very impressive stuff. Serve simply with some potatoes and greens.