TWD-BWJ.....Irish Soda Bread

This week's TWD-BWJ, Irish Soda Bread has to be the easiest, least time-consuming bread recipe, evah!  It's four ingredients....flour (I used half all-purpose and half whole wheat), yeast, buttermilk, and salt.....can be kneaded in your stand mixer and requires no rise time (I'm sure there's a much more technical term than that).  This is something your kids can make and pop into the oven while you're cooking dinner.

This is a dense, filling bread.  The book said it was best served the same day it's made, but I put mine in a ziplock bag on the counter and it's still pretty durn good today.  Traditionally you add in dried fruit, such as raisins or apricots, but I went with another suggestion and added in one cup of freshly grated Gruyere.   I think a piece of this toasted with a poached egg on top just might be my breakfast in the morning.....or Hubs dinner tonight!  You can get the recipe at My Culinary Mission or Chocolate Moosey.

On a completely unrelated note, I've had a visitor hanging out here for the past couple of days.  That's Rex (and his brother Rocky behind him).  His dad is our handyman who's been doing a few projects around our house this week.

Since my first dog was a Cocker Spaniel, and just happened to be perfect, I have a real soft spot for the breed.

This guy is not helping matters.  He's about 12 weeks old and is so well trained I can't stand it.   He can get up the stairs fine but is a little timid about going down them, so every time Anthony goes down, Rex sits at the top and whines and stares until his daddy comes back up.

A perfect little angel!  Rafter doesn't quite have the same opinion, however!