On the Cover: December 2021

“CHALLAH WITH CHILD”

Cover image by Lucie Monk Carter

By Jordan LaHaye Fontenot

Perhaps the thing the Country Roads team misses most about having former Managing Editor Lucie Monk Carter on staff is her mastery of sourdough. Longed for are the days when the aroma of her craft wafted up the stairway, promising a distinct delight to come later in the afternoon.

I can only say this because we are still fortunate enough to occasionally utilize and enjoy Lucie’s other talents in writing and photography in these pages (find her work in the Cuisine and Escapes section this month). When I found myself searching for the perfect imagery to accompany Swathi Reddy’s profile on the artisan baker Bryan Ford (page 40), I wasted no time in enlisting Country Roads’ most gifted breadmaking, photo-taking friend.

Enriched by her expert understanding of sourdough’s unique properties, Lucie’s photos also capture a quality of breadmaking that is at the heart of Ford’s mantra: its capacity to create moments shared, memories treasured. Ford’s verve for baking germinated in his mother’s kitchen in Honduras, where he learned to make tortillas and pan de coco. It isn’t hard to imagine Lucie’s daughter’s tiny hand, a bit larger, kneading dough someday, somewhere—recalling that November day her family gathered in the kitchen to make challah.

Lucie Monk Carter