Better Bread is a small family bakery in Riga’s Quiet Centre, opened by Sergei and Alena in the belief that life without gluten can be delicious on holidays and every other day. Alena is a graduate of the Leiths Cooking School. Sergei has taken courses at the SCA Coffee Academy and holds an intermediate barista diploma.
Everything is gluten-free. The bread is made with certified organic gluten-free flours and a sourdough starter the bakery has kept since its first day, fed with quinoa flour for its protein alongside buckwheat and corn flour, and with no chemical additives or flavour enhancers. The bakers start at four in the morning so the bread is fresh every day, and the bakery is an open space, so guests can watch the work over a cup of coffee. Besides the loaves, among them a quinoa sourdough and a sourdough toast loaf, the range includes cardamom buns and canelés.
The coffee is roasted in Sweden by da Matteo of Gothenburg, in business since 1995, which also runs a café there with its own bakery. Bread and pastries are sold online too, with delivery across Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
Coffee on the shelf
- da Matteo Gothenburg roaster of the coffee served at Better Bread
Photograph: Better Bread