Garlic Beer Bread with Laser Cut Flour Stencil

Beer bread has been a favorite of mine since I was in elementary school.  It goes well with pasta, soups, sauces, makes great toast, yummy garlic bread, and can be turned into tasty stuffing if you can't manage to eat it before it becomes stale.  I feel this bread is a good way to become familiar with baking yeast breads in general because it is straightforward and an easy dough to work with (other breads with eggs for example can make kneading more strenuous). 

In this instructable I put a spin on my mother's version by substituting some white flour with whole wheat and using brown sugar instead of white.  I also show how you can stencil your breads using laser cut cardboard and make very intense garlic bread (for true garlic fans).

I have tried to include descriptive pictures and some tips for bread beginners.

Total time to make this bread is about 2 hours with some long opportunities to ignore it.   This recipe makes 2 Beer Bread loaves , one of which will be optionally converted to garlic bread.

Step 1 Gather Ingredients and Tools

Ingredients:

4 1/2 - 5 Cups Unbleached white flour
1 1/2 Cups Wheat flour
2 Tbsp or 2 Packages Active Dry Yeast (Instant blend dry yeast)
1/4 Cups Brown Sugar
1 1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Cups Water
1 1/2 Cups (12 oz.) Warm Beer (Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout is my favorite)
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
Cornmeal
Pam Nonstick Spray

Tools:

Mixing Bowl
Cutting Board
Wooden Spoon
Spatula
Liquid Measuring Cup
Dry Measuring Cups (1 Cup, 1/2 Cup, 1/4 Cup)
Measuring Spoons
Saucepan
2 Cookie Sheets
Serrated Bread Knife

Optional Tools:

Laser Cut Stencil for flour (can also be hand cut)
Thermometer
Dough Scraper
Flour Shaker

Note:  High alcohol beers can interfere with the yeast and sometimes drastically impact the flavor of the bread with interesting results.  Experiment!