Our European weekend ends with French onion soup, from Cook’s Country Feb/Mar 2015 p27. It’s a recipe designed for two, so we’re not going to be left with litres of leftovers. It probably means it’s also in ATK’s Complete Cookbook for Two which we already own, but I never notice the French onion soup recipe previously. Oh and it’s also available online, which saves me heading upstairs for the magazine…

For the oversized croutons that top the soup I’m making sourdough baguettes using my new baguette dome.

The recipe says to proof in the tin, and then bake from a cold dome… hmm… Anyway at least the dome just about fits in the proofer.

It proofed quickly in the proofer, just a couple of hours needed, which is quick for my sourdough.

Then I slashed, sprayed and floured.

The method recommended for the dome suggests a cooking time of 25 minutes with the lid on, and a couple of extra minutes with the lid off to form the crust. This seemed short to me given the dome isn’t preheated, and when I went a-Googling I found that was indeed the case and a review on The Fresh Loaf suggests 35 minutes with the lid on then five minutes with the lid off, so that’s what I’m going to try. Depending on how it turns out I might try preheating the dome as I do with La Cloche.

They look pretty good, but they did stick and it took some work to get them out!

But the did come out in once piece, and then cool and get left out overnight ready for use tomorrow.

 

The trick for the French onion soup it to microwave the onions before frying them, to vastly reduce the cooking time.

Then it’s just stock, seasoning, bay & thyme before topping with grilled (broiled) cheese on toast.

Obviously the croutons were delicious: cheese on toast, what’s not to love!?

But the soup itself was amazing tasty. It’s just onions, stock & seasoning, but it’s so flavourful, and due to the unusual lack of chilli and garlic you can really taste the bay and thyme.