Potatoes baked in salt crust

When they cook potatoes like this on the Ile de Ré, they sometimes also add whole unpeeled shallots and serve the lot with cream.

Ingredients

1 ½ kgs	Waxy potatoes, all the same size (medium) (Main)
1 splash	Extra virgin olive oil
2 sprigs	Fresh rosemary
1 kg	Sea salt
½ cup	Flour
½ cup	Water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Scrub potatoes and quickly brown in olive oil, season with salt and pepper to taste, and add the rosemary.
3. Place in a fairly deep oven proof dish - about 28cm x 22cm.
4. In a large bowl, mix together the rock salt, flour and water. Pour this over the potatoes, press in and bake for one hour.
5. Remove from oven and invert on to a bread board. It will all stay together in a hard piece and doesn't make any mess at all.