French Onion Soup
French Onion Soup Recipe Panera Bread Style
There are six hundred and sixty five Panera bread outlets in the United States and they are famed for their excellent sandwich recipes. Their French onion soup recipe is pretty spectacular too. With their French onion soup recipe Panera like to include a little bit of tomato sauce but, rather than opening a big jar of sauce for just a little bit, you can use ketchup.
A drop of Tabasco sauce in the soup gives it a vibrant flavor and using sweet cream butter to sauté the onions really gives them a great taste. The combination of chicken broth and beef broth is nice with the onions and this is a very easy soup recipe if you fancy something easy yet packed with flavor.
You can use any bread you have to make the croutons although Panera's foccacia bread is a good one to try. Also, you can use Asiago rather than Asiago-Parmesan if you have it. This French onion soup recipe Panera style is easy to make and delicious to eat.
Panera French Onion Soup with Foccacia Croutons
Ingredients -
8 cups sliced yellow onions (about 5 onions)
¼ cup sweet cream butter
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
¾ cup chicken broth
2 cans beef broth, 14 oz each
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 ½ teaspoons ground black pepper
1 tablespoons ketchup
1 ½ cups water
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon dried thyme
2 or 3 drops Tabasco sauce
8 slices focaccia bread
1 block Asiago or Asiago-Parmesan cheese
Preparation:
Melt the butter in a big pan over a medium heat, and then add the onions. Sauté them for about 20 minutes or until they are golden brown.
Add everything else except the bread and cheese and stir well.
Bring the soup to a boil then turn down the heat and let it simmer for 20 minutes, uncovered.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Butter both sides of the bread, then cut it into small cubes and bake it for 15 minutes or until it is golden brown and crispy.
Run a potato peeler over the edge of the cheese to shave pieces off and garnish the soup with a handful of croutons and a few shaved cheese pieces.
This will take about a minute.
(Serves 8)
French Onion Soup Bread Panera
When you make a French onion soup recipe, you have a certain freedom with the ingredients. Perhaps you want to use white onions or Vidalia onions. Maybe you prefer Provolone to Gruyere cheese. You can even use veal or chicken broth instead of beef broth, although that does change the French onion soup flavor a lot. But what about the croutons? Classic French onion soup uses French baguette bread, sliced on the bias. For a tasty French onion soup recipe Panera bread is a flavorsome choice and it comes in a variety of types, such as ciabatta, country style bread and even a French baguette loaf.
Using Thyme in French Onion Soup
Herbs add lots of flavor to onion soup and they enhance the other ingredients used in the recipe. Thyme is usually called for in a French onion soup recipe and, because of its ability to blend in with the recipe flavors and not overpower, it is a great ingredient to use. Thyme is a key ingredient in Herbes de Provence and also in bouquet garni. There are over a hundred thyme varieties including common thyme, lemon thyme and caraway thyme. For the best French onion soup recipe Panera bread might make the best croutons but thyme adds a subtle flavor, which finishes off the whole soup perfectly. Use fresh thyme or dried thyme. Dried thyme is more concentrated so you will need less of it. It is best to add a small amount, taste, and then add more if necessary.