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1
Place the unpeeled garlic cloves in a mortar and crush them with a pestle, or put them in a small plastic bag and pound them with a rolling pin.
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2
Put the garlic, skins and all, in a heavy 4-quart soup pot and add the onion, water, salt, thyme, and bay leaf.
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3
Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, partially cover, and simmer slowly for 30 minutes.
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4
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.
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5
While the garlic simmers, place the croutes on baking sheet and sprinkle with the grated Cantal cheese.
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6
Reserve.
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7
Place 6 soup plates in the oven to heat.
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8
Put the butter in a bowl and mash with a wooden spoon until it is a soft paste.
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9
Add the flour and egg yolks and combine thoroughly.
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10
At the end of the garlic cooking time, strain the garlic broth through a fine-mesh sieve and return it to the pot.
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11
Slowly, a few tablespoons at a time, add 1 to 1 1/2 cups of the hot broth to the butter-egg mixture, whisking to combine thoroughly.
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12
Off the heat, put the egg-broth mixture into the pot, stirring until the soup is creamy and thoroughly blended.
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13
Remove the soup plates from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees F. When the oven is fully preheated, place the baking sheet with the cheese-covered croutes, in the oven for a few moments to melt the cheese.
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14
Add the white wine to taste to the soup and place over low heat, stirring occasionally.
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15
Do not allow the soup to boil.
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16
Taste and add more salt if needed.
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17
When thoroughly heated, remove the soup from the heat.
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18
Place the cheese-glazed croutes in the bottom of the heated soup plates and top with the hot soup.
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19
Serve immediately.
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20
For croutes, the oven method is foolproof.
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21
Slice French bread into thin ovals (best for cream soups), and slice country, whole-grain, or rye bread into thicker slices or half slices (best for chunky, country-style soups).
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22
Spread each side of the bread with a very thin layer of fat.
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23
Place the slices in neat rows on a baking sheet and place in a 350 to 400 degrees F oven.
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24
In 5 minutes, check the bottom of a bread slice (the bottom will brown more quickly than the top because of its contact with the hot metal baking sheet).
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25
As soon as the bottoms are golden brown (5 to 8 minutes), take the baking sheet out of the oven.
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26
Turn all of the bread slices over and return them to the oven.
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27
This time the browning takes less time, 3 to 5 minutes.
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28
Remove from the oven and cool the croutes on a rack.
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29
Store the croutes in a sealed canister.
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30
They will keep for several weeks.
