Brown Bread!

It's not the super-dark, super-chunky brown bread I really, really love, but it is good. If you've never had the pleasure of going to Ireland and learning to adjust your vocabulary, "brown bread" is simply whole wheat bread. Black coffee is black coffee, but coffee with milk in it is white coffee. They're big on colors, I think. Anyway, here's a nice low round loaf of the brown bread exactly like what I got at the B&B in Thurles for breakfast:

2 cups whole-wheat flour
2 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for kneading
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 cups well-shaken buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix together all the dry ingredients in a big bowl. Blend in the chunks of butter either with a pastry blender or by smushing the butter together with the flour mixture with your fingertips. I prefer the fingertip method, as it seems to go quite a bit faster and with less effort.
When it resembles coarse meal, make a well in the center and pour in the buttermilk. Mix the wet and dry together gradually until it makes a dough.
At this point you can take it out and knead it for a few minutes on a floured surface until it's smooth, but it works just as well if you knead it with one hand in the bowl it's in (provided it's big enough). I'm always on the lookout for ways to cut down on the mess.
Press the dough into a 9" cake pan, buttered if it's not nonstick. With a sharp knife, cut a 1/2" deep "X" across the top and chuck it in the oven for 30-40 minutes, until it's lightly browned on top.
Cool it on a rack in the pan for a few minutes before popping it out. Cool for a half hour or more before slicing.