Irish Soda Bread Take 2

Having already made Irish Soda Bread (and having loved it the last time), I thought I'd try a different recipe to revive the ol' classic. I made the soda bread to go a long with a stew that my dad had prepared for me and brought over to my place... I don't know what could have given him the impression that I don't do home cooking when living on my own (doesn't he read my blog?? or is that too "new agey" for his generation?) but the stew was a welcomed surprise.

Anywho, on with the bread! I love Irish Soda Bread because it's delicious, easy, only uses a few ingredients and you can not screw it up. So, here's the recipe...

Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients:
- 2 cups flour
- 5 tbsp sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp butter, cold and cubed
- 1 cup buttermilk (or 2% + 1 1/2 tbsp vinegar, left to sit for ~10mins)
- 2 tbsp mixed grains (optional)

Method:
1. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl.
2. Using a pastry cutter, or your fingers, work the butter into the flour mixture. Continue breaking up the butter until you get pea-sized chunks.
3. Working with the dough as little as possible, add the buttermilk into the dry ingredients.
4. Shape the dough into a rough ball and place on a greased baking tray. Flatten the dough slightly, dust the top with the mixed grains and score the top of the dough with a knife.
5. Bake at 350degrees for 35-40minutes, or until golden brown.

This was such an amazing bread. Really quick, and really simple to conjure up. I think that from start to finish, the entire bread only took about 45minutes to create (including baking time!). I almost didn't even need to eat the bread with the stew, but the smell of my dad's stew was just too alluring to pass up. So, with an amazing comfort-food meal of soda bread and stew... my evening was complete.