There is irish soda bread in your future. I can see it. A nice hardy hunk slathered in butter and honey, crumbs all over the place.
So all you have to do know is make it.
I remember reading somewhere (I wish I could remember where) that irish soda bread is just four ingredients, flour, sea salt, baking soda and buttermilk and adding anything else would make it a cake. So when I decided to make irish soda bread, thats all I used. ( I made it with some wheat flour) What you end up with is a highly dense, super fragrant, soft, chewy bread with a crunchy crust. Definitely not a cake.
Note….You can for sure add in a bit of sweetener or even little fat to make it richer and softer, but then it wouldn't be bread (or so that's what I read) There are tons of other recipes out there that have other stuff in them. This is just a really simple basic recipe.
White whole wheat flour and all purpose flour mixed together. Salt baking soda and buttermilk. That's it.
All the dry whisked together and in goes the buttermilk. Mix together until dough starts to form then dump onto a floured surface. Handling dough as little as possible, knead into ball.
Place on a baking sheet and dust with flour. Take a sharp knife and cut an X through the top about 1/2 inch deep.
Stick in into the oven for 50 ish minutes, or unit la tester stuck into the middle comes out clean and there is kind of a hollow thunk when tapped on. 
And now you have a very pretty, dense hunk of irish soda bread.
Cut and serve with butter and honey (thats how the mister likes it) or whatever you want to eat it with.
-C
Irish Soda Bread
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour (or you can use all purpose)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk (or your choice if milk plus a tablespoon lemon juice)
Preheat oven to 375
In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking soda and salt. Mix in buttermilk until the dough starts to come together. If the dough seems to dry, add another splash or two of milk. Dump out dough onto a floured surface and shape into a ball. transfer onto a baking sheet, dust with flour and cut a x about 1/2 inch into the top. Stick into oven for 50 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean and the bread makes a hollow sound when tapped.
Let cool enough to handle.
Cut into and serve with a smear of whatever you want
Best eaten within a day or two
Because it is cold outside. Because I had an hour to kill before I needed to leave the house and because I wanted to make a sweet treat for the mister (who had been dealing with frozen pipes all day) and for the little littles that I was going to hang out with. 
The stuff…Flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and allspice. Cocoa powder, brown and white sugar. Veggie Oil (you can use butter, or vegan butter instead for a chewier cookie) vanilla, a little vinegar and a nice cup of chai tea... Also a little bowl of cinnamon and sugar to doodle the cookies.
The sugars, oil, tea, vinegar, and vanilla go into a big bowl. Beat for a minute on medium, then add the rest of the stuff and beat some more until fully incorporated…. Simple simple. 
Aahhhh…….pulled from the oven and placed on a rack to cool. Fluffy, chewy, pillowy soft and spicy cookies. Oh the smell of so good!
Made extra large to make extra little littles happy. The best part? I made each little sing me a song for a second cookie… I am the greatest!
One of the best things about winter is that I can have something in the oven at any time and not worry about how hot the house is going to get. I get to spend my free time (or my in between free minutes) baking up all the thing that I would not dare bake in the summer. (lots of bread and cakes) Yeah, I might complain a little about how cold it is outside (to my defense, -20 is kind of a bitch) but then I think of the super hot humid days that come during the summer and cringe. At least when its cold out I am able to get warm, (que oven) but when its super hot and humid, I just turn into something that border lines a wet towel and the rabbit animal… Not so pleasant. 
The stuff, which isn't a whole lot… Flour and salt. A mixture of honey, water, and yeast. And olive oil.
Mix together the wet and dry…I used my nifty dough whisk, but a wooden spoon or even your hand works. Mix mix mix. The dough should be really slack and sticky. And guess what.. no need to knead! Just make sure the dough is uniformly incorporated…hehe.. uniformly incorporated… sounds weird. 
Drizzle the dough (don't worry about making it into a ball, a blob is good) with a little oil and place in a nice warm place topped with a towel to rise for about an hour or until dough has doubled in size.
When dough has finished its second rise, drizzle each with another tablespoon of oil and with your fingers, fill out the pan and indent the dough, kind of like playing a piano or tickling a puppy(?)….Then layer your toppings (if you want any) Start with any herbs, then the veggies. Then last, any cheese you got. 
Pulled from the oven when nice and golden brown..set on a wire rack to cool for a few minute and removed from the pans.
The mister was practically salivating waiting for a slice… and he was so not disappointed.
