How To Avoid Soggy Bread In Your French Onion Soup

Soup season is officially upon us. And while you're dusting off those jotted-down soup recipes for new and traditional dishes alike, it's completely possible that some of the finer details might slip through the proverbial cracks. With a dish such as the celebrated French onion soup, every little delicate feature matters. There's perhaps no soup quite as satisfying and soul-enriching than French onion soup when it's done right. But alternatively, there's perhaps no soup more disappointing than a shoddily-assembled French onion soup — and a big player in determining the quality of your experience is the bread.

French onion soup, like many dishes, has the potential for pitfalls along its cooking and preparation process. This starts from how you prepare your onions and goes all the way to the final layering of your bread and cheese. No one wants soggy bread in their soup, but thankfully there's a super simple and quick way to avoid this. All you've got to do is take your bread pieces, cover them in some oil and broil them in your oven. Keep an eye on them — they'll crisp up in about two or three minutes — and just like that, you've got warm, crispy bread that'll resist getting soaked and soggy from your soup!

So broiling your bread with a bit of oil is a surefire way to get your bread nice and crispy for your French onion soup, but just like any other element in this soup, your specific choice of bread plays a huge role. Though much of the attention might be paid to picking the absolute best onion variety for your French onion soup, or even in making a simple cheese swap to level up said soup, your specific choice of bread can heavily influence the quality of your final product too. So with this in mind, what are the breads most fitting for a French onion soup?

As a rule of thumb, you ought to seek out drier, crustier breads to use in French onion soup. When you oil and broil these breads, you can think of it as simply amplifying or playing into the strengths and features already inherent in that bread, since it's already fairly dry to begin with. It would be harder to get, say, plain white baker's bread to your desired level of crispiness without burning it up. Therefore, a classic French bread, such as baguette, would be perfect for French onion soup. Artisanal Italian breads can also serve your needs here, as would a country loaf like a sourdough boule. Really, as long as you're starting with a dry bread, you're operating from a position of strength, and your French onion soup will thank you for that.