French Onion Soup

It's soup season and I love how it can warm you up. French onion is one of my family favorites but it is hard to find a good recipe for it. Recipes are everywhere but a good one is the challenge. This is the Famous Barr french onion soup recipe. I use variances of it when I make mine and I am usually happy how it turns out. This is the master, and I will list what I omit and what I change. I have never tried to make the "FULL" recipe. Too time consuming and it makes a ton.

3lbs onions peeled
1 bay leaf
2t salt
3qt beef bouillon. (I use 4 cans of beef broth, if it is lacking beefy flavor, I just add a couple of bouillon cubes to it)
1 stick butter
1/2t pepper
2T paprika (1/2T sharp 1 1/2 sweet both from Penzey's, you might want you use about half that much, it's pretty spicy)
3/4C flour (sometimes I use it sometimes I don't, more often I use corn starch slurry)
1C white wine (optional and I have never used it)
French Bread
4 1/2oz shredded Swiss cheese (I use whatever is on hand, Swiss, mozzarella, or provel)
caramel coloring (optional, the paprika can make it look deep reddish/orange without it, I don't care about color, I care about taste so I don't worry about it either)
Slice onions into small pieces. Melt butter in large soup pot and add onions. Saute slowly for 1 1/2 hours (I'm more like a half hour on medium heat) Add bay leaf, salt, pepper, paprika, and flour and saute for an additional 10 minutes (I don't add the flour) Add bouillon and wine and simmer for two hours (about a half hour to an hour for me)Adjust color with food coloring (I omit but sometimes I do add a little milk to make it creamy and to cut back the paprika kick) Cool and put in refrigerator overnight. (I skip this, I don't make dinner the night before!)
To serve fill fireproof container with warm soup top with slices of french bread and then top with cheese. Place under boiler until brown about 5 minutes at 350 degrees. (I toast the bread in the oven and then I melt the cheese in the microwave. )

Sorry if this is confusing. I probably should write this out as two recipes but you guys are smart and can figure this out!