From Underground Market to Master Baker
The story begins with the mother of Normunds Skauģis, the founder of «Lāči» bread, baking traditional rye bread and selling under the counter during the dark soviet times. Private commerce was forbidden, but people craved real rye bread.
Young Normunds, barely 16, learned by example of his mother — the rhythm of kneading, the patience fermentation demands, and the way a proper loaf should sound when you tap the crust.
In 1993, at 26 years old, he reclaimed his grandfather's farmhouse after Soviet occupation and started with his first loaves. Ugly, burnt, three-kilo disasters. Now, 30 years later, «Lāči» has become an iconic rye bread maker, known in every home and bringing the taste of Latvia around the world.
36 Hours
Each loaf is shaped by hand and baked in wood-fired stone ovens. A process that takes up to 36 hours, allowing time, care, and skill to bring out deep, authentic Baltic flavor.
The process starts with natural sourdough starter bubbling in wooden tubs. Then comes plaucēšana, an almost ancient scalding technique where boiling water hits rye flour, creating the characteristic sour flavor. The dough ferments slowly, and rye doesn't behave like wheat—it's stubborn and unforgiving.Bakers shape each loaf by hand before they go into wood-fired brick ovens heated to 500°C—so hot that wheat bran ignites instantly in bright flames.
Rye thrives where wheat surrenders
"Such rye bread as we bake, Europe no longer makes," Normunds states. In Latvia's cold, wet climate, rye was the grain that kept people alive through centuries. Every household maintained sourdough starters in wooden buckets, some strains passed down through generations like family heirlooms.
Bread quality shows human character. Your attitude towards work, your sense of order. It all appears in the loaf. If you rush the kneading, the bread knows. If you're careless about timing, the flavor flattens.
A dark, rich bread that tastes like childhood memory, like home, like Latvia condensed into a slice you can hold and share.
From a young age, we teach our children about the blessing of having a daily bread. If you drop bread, you pick it up and kiss it. The first slice must be eaten in silence. These little rituals reveal how seriously bread was taken in every family.
The Riga Rye Collection
The signature collaboration between Riga Original® x LĀČI celebrates the deep roots of Latvian bread culture and the energy of Riga itself. A rye bread culture that survived occupations and industrialization. A bread that makes ex-pats weep.
Authentic Riga Rye Bread
The authentic rye bread refined through 30+ years of baking. Natural sourdough fermentation, 36-hour production cycle, baked in wood-fired brick ovens until the crust sings when you tap it. Dense with the kind of nutrition that kept Latvian farmers working through brutal winters.
It looks and tastes like bread did centuries ago, before industrialization smoothed away all the interesting edges. The crumb is firm enough to scrub your teeth. The crust is thick and chewy. The flavor is complex, sour, sweet, earthy, and alive.
Eat it simply with butter and salt. Serve it with smoked fish or aged cheese. Pair it with soup where it becomes the meal's anchor. Best on the second or third day when the sharpest acids have mellowed and the bread achieves its full, rounded sweetness.
Made with: rye flour, natural sourdough starter (rye flour, water), sugar, rye malt, caraway seeds, salt, wheat bran
Rye Bread with Dried Fruits
Dried apricots, black plums, hazelnuts, and raisins folded into naturally fermented rye dough. Soft enough for breakfast, substantial enough for an afternoon treat. Latvians don't draw hard lines between savory and sweet; this bread lives happily in both worlds.
Beautiful with butter and honey. Beautiful with tea and nothing else or an energizing snack when out in the woods. Beautiful on its own when you just need something gentle and good.
Made with: rye flour, natural sourdough starter, dried apricots 12%, sugar, dried black plums 9%, hazelnuts 8%, raisins 5%, rye malt, salt, wheat bran
Rye Bread Crispy Thin Toasts with Bacon & Horseradish
Crunchy rye bread crispy thin toasts deliver smoky bacon and sharp horseradish bite in every piece.
The kind of thing you stand at the kitchen counter eating for ten minutes before you consciously register what you're doing.
Perfect at 4 PM when you need something to keep your hands busy.
Rye Bread Crispy Thin Toasts with Tomato & Basil
Mediterranean brightness & Baltic tradition. Lighter and friendlier, with sun-sweet tomato and fresh basil over a crisp rye-wheat base.
Excellent with soup, admittedly, often better than the soup itself. Great when you want something that won't weigh you down yet still satisfies the need to crunch and chew. Clean, honest flavor with no pretension.
Where to find it?
Riga Original® x LĀČI rye bread collection is currently available at various
LĀČI Stores See locations
Stockmann See location
