In your largest, heavy pot, melt the butter over medium heat.

Add the coarsely chopped onions and saute until onions are carmalized. This takes some time (20-30 minutes) but it is worth it. Stir regularly so onions become translucent but stir regularly and watch closely so onions don't burn!

I move the onions over, add a little more butter, and saute the garlic in that spot for a minute-ish

Stir in the wine (or broth if not using wine) to deglaze the pan. The bits stuck on the bottom are good! Scrap them up with your spoon.

Add the stock and Worcestershire sauce

Add bay leaf, and thyme.

Bring to a simmer for about 5 minutes, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 20 minutes,

If you simmer longer, broth will evaporate and you may need to add a little extra. I am a fan of cooking my soups low and slow so I always end up adding more broth to get the consistency that I want.

Discard the bay leaf prior to eating or freezing.

I use a toaster oven for getting my bread and cheese all wonderfully cheesy and melty. But, an oven on broil will do the same, it just may take a minute or two more.  It is handy to put the bowls on a baking sheet to easily put the bowls in and out of the oven.

If using bread (buagette, Italian or French), slice to about 1 inch. Toast both sides, Then, put on a lightly sprayed pan, add your cheese on top and broil for about 1 ½ minutes. I use aa generous ¼ cup and it is initially mounded - until it melts.

You need to closely watch for that beautiful brown color on the cheese. I am sure all toaster ovens will require a different amount of time (and so would a full sized oven). It doesn't take long (1 ½ minutes for me), so watch them closely!

As the cheese is melting and browning, serve soup into bowls.

When cheese has perfectly melted onto bread, carefully remove and slide onto the top of your soup.

Use the above method if you are going to use either croutons or bread stuffing instead of a bread slice. The cheese will hold it all together so you can also slide these options onto your soup.

This is a large amount of soup. I freeze what I don't use in 12 oz mason jars so that I have a homemade lunch or a soup before dinner handy.

I can't remember the last time I bought canned soup. Love having my own in the freezer!