FAQ

How do I order bread?

We bake weekly on Wednesdays and Fridays, with pre-orders placed through our website. The online shop opens on Sundays at 9am and closes on Tuesdays at 8am. This ensures that we have enough time to begin mixing and shaping for our first bake of the week, early Wednesday morning. We recently increased our bake schedule to include Wednesdays, and shifted our pickup and delivery options to be grouped by region. Wednesday bread serves our customers between Goleta and downtown Santa Barbara. Friday bread serves our customers in Montecito and Carpinteria. You are welcome to order bread for either bake day but may have to travel outside your neighborhood to collect your order from the available pickup locations.

Where can I buy bread?

Our sourdough loaves are available Tuesday/Thursay/Saturday at the Sweet Wheel Farmstead in Summerland.
We also bake sourdough beer bread for Draughtsmen Aleworks, using upcycled, spent grains. You can find loaves at the brewery in Goleta and at their downtown State Street outpost at Mosaic Locale, on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Food allergies

While we do our best to prevent cross-contamination, our home bakery processes seeds, nuts, dairy, and wheat gluten.

Why can I eat your bread and not other bread?

Feedback from our customers often reveals that those with some gluten sensitivities have an easier time digesting our sourdough breads. We attribute this to the long, natural leavening and fermentation of our dough, and the use of exclusively organic and stone-ground flours. Please reach out if you have further questions.

Are your ingredients local?

We source local and organic ingredients whenever available. Our flours are a blend of certified organic wheat flour and stone-ground grains.

Can I have some of your starter?

We would love to share some of our starter with you and are also happy to provide a beginner recipe. Email rivierabread@gmail.com with your request.

Do you teach classes?

We teach beginning level, demo-based sourdough workshops. Please subscribe to our weekly newsletter to be notified of the next available date.

Can you slice my loaf?

Unfortunately, time and volume does not allow us offer hand sliced bread.

How old is your starter?

We love this question! Technically our starter is about nine years old… but we see it as continually renewed through time and location. With each change of season and environment, the symbiotic culture of yeast and bacteria will quickly stabilize to the current atmosphere and require a different feeding structure and schedule. If you’d like to take home a bit of our starter, rest assured that in just a few short days of feeding and discarding in your home kitchen it will become entirely your own.