Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Place a piece of parchment paper into a baking pan or skillet.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and sugar in a large bowl.

Cut in the cold butter into the dry ingredients. There should still be chunks of butter in the bread. It will melt into the dough as it bakes creating a tender crumb.

Add the buttermilk and stir until barely combined.

Turn the dough out onto a pastry mat or counter. (I didn’t need more flour for the surface, but if your dough is extra sticky, lightly flour the surface.)

Knead 4-5 times just until all the flour gets combined and the mixture comes together. This should only take about 30 seconds.

Form the dough into a round loaf.

Place the loaf on the parchment paper.

Whisk together the buttermilk and melted butter. Brush this over the top of the dough.

Use a sharp knife to cut a cross on top of the dough.

Bake the loaf for 50 minutes. The internal temperature of the bread should be about 190-200ºF.

Wrap in a tea towel while it is warm to soften the crust and to keep it soft.