French Onion Soup & Baguette
French Onion Soup and French Baguette Dish Guide
For The Baguette
4 cups (500 g) bread flour (or AP flour)
1 ½ cups (325 g) room temperature water
2 tsp salt
¼ tsp active dry yeast
In a large bowl add all ingredients and using a spatula or wooden spoon, incorporate them until a shaggy dough forms. Knead in the bowl by hand for a couple of minutes being sure to work all of the flour into the dough. Once thoroughly combined, cover the dough with a damp towel and rest for 12-15 hours. If you need to rest it longer, refrigerate it.
When ready to shape, remove the dough onto a floured surface and again knead briefly to punch out air bubbles and work into a ball. Cut in half for two large baguettes or in quarters for 4 smaller ones. Shape each piece into a rectangle and then work with hands or a rolling pin, work them out from the center into a long tube shape about 12” or so. Taper the ends. Once all have been shaped, place on the sheet pan you plan to bake on, cover and rest again for one hour.
Set oven to 500 degrees. Using a very sharp pairing knife, razor blade or scissors, cut 3-5 slits diagonally along the top of the loaves. You want to cut about ¼ inch into the loaf. This will allow steam to escape and allow the bread to expand more easily in the oven. Place into middle of oven and spray 4-5 squirts of plain water into the oven. Do this again every 5 minutes until the bread is deeply brown and cooked though (about 15-20 minutes). It should be at least 190 degrees internally if checked with an instant read thermometer.
For the French Onion Soup
6 large onions (all yellow or a combination of yellow and sweet)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 T freshly minced chives
8 cups Beef stock (or vegetable stock if vegan)
½ cup dry Vermouth or white wine
Salt and Pepper to Taste
1 T olive oil
2-3 thyme sprigs bundled in twine
2 bay eaves
8 oz grated gruyere cheese (omit or vegan cheese if vegan)
Cut the root and stem off the onions and halve and peel them. Cut them thinly (about ¼ inch or less) from root to stem end.
Place a large pot over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the onions and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally until the onions are golden brown (depending on your pot and how aggressive you are with the heat this could take anywhere from 30-60 minutes). You don’t want to cook them into a jam, but they should have given off all their water and be the color of caramel. Add the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the vermouth and use the liquid to scrape up any fond on the bottom of the pot. Add the beef stock, bay leaves, thyme and a heavy grinding of fresh pepper, bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 30-45 minutes.
Taste for seasoning at this point. I like to add an extra splash of vermouth. If you use a mix of sweet and yellow onions like I did you may find the soup has a slightly sweet aftertaste. I enjoy this but you can always balance it out with a splash of sherry or balsamic vinegar.
To Serve
Slice a baguette into 1” thick rounds and toast in a 400 degree oven for 4-5 minutes. Add grated gruyere cheese to the croutons and place back in oven to melt cheese. Ladle the soup into a bowl and add 1-2 cheesy croutons. You can sprinkle more cheese over the top if you wish. Garnish with the chives for a fresh onion flavor.
Dish Notes
You could certainly use butter in place of olive oil and use a bit more of it. The milk solids would help the onions caramelize faster. You could also use it to toast the baguette pieces. Our effort was to keep this easy to modify for vegan diets (just omit the cheese/use vegan and vegetable broth).
