Instructions: Preliminaries: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sprinkle a baking sheet or jelly-roll pan lightly with flour.

1. In a large bowl, stir flour, wheat germ, baking soda and salt.

2. Add butter and toss to coat with flour. With fingertips, blend butter into flour until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add caraway seeds (and currants, if using); stir to combine.

3. Stir in 1 3/4 cups buttermilk, adding more if necessary to moisten dough evenly (do not overwork dough).

4. On a floured surface, knead dough with floured hands 1-2 minutes, sprinkling with some additional flour to prevent sticking. Divide dough in half and on baking sheet pat dough out into two 5-inch rounds. Sprinkle rounds lightly with flour and spread out dough with fingers. With a sharp knife, cut a shadow X on top of each round.

5. Bake bread in middle of oven for 35 minutes or until golden brown. To test for doneness, tap on bottom of loaf; it should sound hollow. Cool on rack.

Yield: 2 loaves (about 24-28 slices)

package suggests that you can cook corned beef in the microwave or bake it in the oven, I prefer the stovetop simmering method; the meat is moist and tender every time.

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