Chicken Baked in Cream (A Very Slow Recipe) - Test 3

From Ben's book fragment on Pennsylvania Dutch cookery - pg 15
http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/chicken-breasts-in-cream-sauce-68533

1 - An interesting first try. I added onion and garlic, and it was good, and it appears to be a good base to build on. I felt like the sauce was too thick and sort of gelatinous because of the extra flour, but Ben liked it. I think there are two possible ways of making it better for me: A) decreasing the amount of flour and/or B) taking the chicken out and whisking the sauce since the bottom was somewhat browned while the top wasn't. ALSO, the recipe indicates 350F for 2 hours, which is either way too hot or way too long. The meat seemed moist (the chicken had been brined) but was obviously more than done. I think I'll try reducing the temp for the longer time to see, otherwise, if a higher temp for not as long has the same or better results, there's no point in complicating things. Am I right?
2 - This is in fact a very good and simple recipe. The cream takes on the chicken flavor and makes a delicious sauce. The timing is still weird - this time I baked it at 350F but only for an hour, and the meat came out super cooked. It wasn't dry, though, just very soft and the pieces looked strangely deflated. Oh, and the cream sauce didn't really mix well when I tried to whisk it at the end, so I'm not sure if anything should be done, there. It would be a shame to have to add something like flour or arrowroot powder to try and smooth it. I admit I did it kind of half-heartedly, so I'll try to be more mindful next time.

3 - I made it again at 350F and took it out as soon as the chicken was fully cooked, but then the cream didn't have the richness of flavour. I think the long slow cooking is important to get the meat to release flavour and for the cream to thicken. THEN, with the cream sauce I'd saved and frozen from the last two times I'd made it from scratch, I browned the chicken and instead of frying onion and adding new cream, I just used the old cream sauce, and it worked perfectly. I wonder how often I can do that safely and before the flavour changes too much?

4 - I did not use the old cream, but I did make this again, and oh my good lord it is such a good recipe! It's amazing how flavorful it becomes with so few and simple ingredients. I removed 'sour cream' as an option since I don't tend to buy the stuff - unless I can figure out how to make it. But I do wonder what yogurt would be like, like with another recipe I have somewhere with lamb and I think there's another with pork...

1 chicken, cup up into 8 pieces, brined in salt water for at least 8 hours (see NOTE)
1/2 1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 Tbsps. (42gr) butter
1 onion, chopped fine
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups cream 

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350F. 300F.
2. Sprinkle the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and dredge in flour.
3. Melt butter in a large oven-ready pan and fry the chicken until golden brown on all sides.
4. Remove the chicken and set aside; add the onion and fry until starting to soften (this is just to remove the pungency of the onion) then add the garlic and turn off the heat.
5. Place Return the chicken in a casserole to the pan and pour the cream over it.
6. Cover and bake (in a moderate oven) for 2 hours.
7. Serve with gravy made from the pan fryings left after frying the chicken. Once the chicken thighs register 175F on a meat thermometre, remove from the pan and set on a plate; whisk the cream sauce to combine into a smooth sauce and pour over the chicken to serve.

NOTE: To make a simple brine, the ratio is 3/4 cup salt to 16 cups of water. Add herbs and spices if desired.