Living flour
Whole grain bread
Alma is the Bermondsey mill and bakery on a
mission to restore
the value of whole grain wheat through
incredible bread.
Every weekend, Maltby St comes alive with its food and drink market. Just next door in Stanworth St, we throw open our shutter to be part of this vibrant community. Freshly-baked sweet foods and focaccia by the slice join our bread lineup.
We’re open from 9am – 1pm
Tap into our five everyday sourdough loaves — 100% whole grain Country or Seeded, 45% Baguette or EPI, and 55% Ciabatta. Each is made with freshly stone-milled whole grain flour and long fermented.
Order now through the app or email our wholesale team to set up a wholesale account.
We opened ALMA in April 2023, with expert miller and baker Graison Gill at the helm.
“We take the responsibility of representing grain growers very seriously — celebrating and preserving flavour through minimal intervention. We are not responsible for creating flavour, but for preserving it.” — Graison Gill
Today, our small team of bakers continue to develop our offering while sticking to ALMA’s founding principles: diverse grains, freshly milled and intuitively baked.
Be part of the grain revival
In winemaking, it is well-established that grape varieties impact the quality and flavour of the final product. The same is true of wheat in flour.
The reality is that just a handful of modern hybrid wheat varieties dominate. Genetically uniform and bred for yield, they are only suited to intensive, high-input cultivation. This system is not sustainable. It is depleting the health of our soil and results in vulnerable, bland crops.
Much of the wheat grown for bread making in the UK is so degraded that it is only suitable for animal feed. Despite producing among the highest yield of wheat in the world, every year 1.7 million tons of wheat is imported for bread.
Flavour kicks in
with seed & soil
We recognise grain for what it is: a wildly diverse living ingredient that wields incredible power when it comes to transforming our food systems. We work with growers of heritage and population wheat across the UK, France and Italy who know that flavour starts with the seed and soil. Aiming to buy 300 acres worth of wheat a year, we add momentum to a growing movement presenting an alternative that is better for the planet, people and flavour.
The whole grain
100% in, 100% out
Just as nose-to-tail and fin-to-gill make the most of the entire animal, we use the whole grain.
In the production of white flour, roller mills waste about 25% of the grain. We use the whole grain. For every 100% grain we put in, we get 100% out. By wasting as little as possible, we honour the craft of our growers.
Plus, in the UK, there is no fixed definition for whole grain bread. Some bread labelled whole grain contains as little as 6% whole grain flour. The team pushes for 100% whole grain flour in our loaves.
Freshly milled
living flour
White flour is inert and dead — devoid of flavour, aroma and nutrition. In the production of white flour, all the integrity and character of the wheat is removed.
Roller mills strip away the bran and germ — rich in oils and minerals — from the endosperm. The result: a shelf-stable but lifeless white flour.
We mill our own flour using our New American Stone Mill. By slowly milling our grain between our granite millstones from Vermont, we preserve the bran, endosperm and germ while producing extremely fine flour.
Using our flours at their freshest, we experience them at their nutritional peak, when aromas and flavours are most intense. Replete with oils and fats, they are a natural preservative in our bread.
Thoughtful sourcing
Every ingredient — down to the water and salt in our loaves — is rooted in quality, craftsmanship and flavour.
Fresh flour, water, salt and sourdough: our base ingredients enhance, never mask the true complexity of the grain. We pull on Natoora’s near 20 years of experience sourcing to join forces with producers who share our commitment to quality while working within our ecological boundaries.
