French Onion Soup

I really do like the winter.  Snow falling from the sky means 'stay home' days, fires roaring in the fireplace and soup!  Here we are, January 10, and we've only had like 5 snowflakes fall to the ground.  What is that all about?  Never mind that we've had several days in the 50's lately.  It's grilling weather not soup weather!

Now before anyone start throwing anything at me, I'm not asking for a blizzard that keeps us house bound for days.  I'm just looking for a nice little snowstorm, a foot ought to do, just enough to keep us stuck at the house for a day.

One of my favorite soups to get when we go out to eat is French Onion Soup.  I've tried a few different recipes before I settled on this on as my favorite.  I've been making this recipe for at least 10 years now and I'm not entirely sure where it came from.  It is very easy to throw together and it just involves stirring it periodically so the onions don't burn.  I did learn that you can't make a double batch of this recipe as the onions with literally take all day to caramelize.  I use my cast iron Dutch oven to make this and it doesn't take nearly as long to get the onions caramelized.
                    
French Onion Soup

3 pounds yellow onions
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1  pinch  sugar
8 cups water, plus more as needed
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 sprig fresh thyme
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 whole baguette
8 ounces Gruyère or Swiss cheese, grated

Cut each onion into 1/8 inch slices (I make mine a little thicker so the onions don't all dissolve).   Melt butter in a large Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat. Once it has stopped foaming add the onions, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and sugar. Toss to evenly coat. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Remove cover, and cook stirring frequently until the onions begin to brown lightly, about 90 minutes longer. Stir every 5 minutes and add a couple tablespoons of water whenever the bottom of the pan crusts over with dark colored fond. Continue to cook as directed until the onions are an even dark walnut color, an additional 45 minutes longer.

Add the flour and stir for two minutes. Add 8 cups water and thyme to the onions and bring to a boil. Lower heat to maintain a lively simmer and cook for 20 minutes. Add white wine and simmer 10 minutes longer. Taste for seasoning adding salt as needed. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 325 degrees and adjust a rack to the upper middle position. Cut the baguette into 3/4 inch slices and arrange on a single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake until the bread is dry, crisp and very lightly colored at the edges, about 10 minutes. Remove bread slices and set aside.

Heat broiler and place 6 heatproof bowls in a baking sheet. Fill each bowl with about 2 cups soup. Top each with two baguette slices and evenly distribute grated cheese over the bread. Broil until well browned and bubbly, about ten minutes. Cool for five minutes before serving.