Homemade Viennois

At the FCI we used fresh yeast when we made bread. For the life of me I could not find it anywhere. Well I recently found a store that sells little cubes of it, so I'm getting back to making bread. I'm very happy; I like making bread and I love homemade bread.

By the way, I obviously could use dry active yeast but I like the FCI recipes and I have yet to figure out an exact conversion between the two, so to use dry active yeast (or instant yeast for that matter) I have to use other recipes. If anyone happens to have a good conversion (that definitely works) between the different yeasts let me know--I think that's the one thing I didn't learn in culinary school that I wish I had learned.

I digress. I decided to make Viennois, which is one of my favorite breads (I like it so much I chose to make it for my bread exam). It is sort of a light brioche, less egg and butter but a similar taste. I decided to make rolls, rather than the baguette shaped loaves I made in school. The little rolls made the perfect little sandwiches: cucumber with butter, egg salad, and cheese. The bread holds its own, even with the strong English cheddar, but doesn't distract from the flavors of the filling, even the mild cucumber and butter. It's a nice lunch sandwich bread, a lovely bread for non-traditional finger sandwiches, and even for dipping in the homemade tomato soup my mom made. Yum, yum!