Easy French Onion Soup

 This weekend I took a really fun French Cooking Class at Sur La Table.  It was my third time to take a class (all at different places), but I think this was my favorite.  In this case, we made a meal, some of the others have been tips (which end up as a meal too), but I like a good theme.  One of my favorite meals of all time was French Onion Soup and roasted chicken at this little café in Montmatre.  This menu was reminiscent of the time.
I also had already planned French onion soup for this week's lunches (whoops).  I was in a soup mood a few weeks ago when I was planning ahead.
Can I be honest, I actually liked the soup I made tonight better, but I learned a lot of great tips from the class that helped with making the recipe.
I'm storing it here b/c I want to be able to create it again someday.
But first, here is how you cut the onion...I didn't know.  You do a 'wedge like cut' that ist just about 1/4 of an inch or less.

French Onion Soup

Ingredients:  1/4 c. butter, 2 large yellow onions (chopped thin), 1 t. kosher salt, 1 t. thyme, 1 bay leaf, 1/4 c. dry sherry, 1 t. apple cider vinegar, 1/2 t. sugar, 3 c. beef broth, 2 c. chicken broth, 1 c. water.  1/2 inch sliced baguette (drizzled with oil and toast), 2 c. grated Gruyere cheese.
Instructions:  
1.  Melt butter over medium heat.  Add onions and salt.  Stir occasionally, until the onions are soft and golden (just starting to brown).  This process takes about 45 minutes.
2.  Mix in thyme, bay leaf, broths, and water.  Stir to combine and allow the soup to simmer gently (gentle boil) for about 1 hour.
3.  Remove bay leave and then divide evenly into crocks (mine filled about 6 crocks).  Top with toasted bread (heavy on the bread-I put in 4 pieces), and top with shredded cheese (I like it cheesy-so I put 1/3 c. on each).
4.  Place crocks in oven on high broil until the cheese and golden and bubbling (1-2 minutes).