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Great bread begins long before the dough reaches our hands.

At Bruern Farms in the Cotswolds, Henry Astor grows heritage and population wheats that many farms have left behind. They can be stubborn and unpredictable, but they reward the effort with flavour, character and greater diversity in the field.

Henry Astor

Henry's wheat field earlier this year

Henry has turned his family farm into a place of experimentation. He plants crops that nourish the soil, grows wheat as part of the farm’s wider ecology, and stone-mills the grain himself. The flour reaches our bakers with its relationship to that particular field still intact.

The grains

Henry's mill

We bake it with emmer, wholemeal spelt and rye, then coat the loaf in middlings, an often-overlooked part of the grain recovered during milling. Minimally shaped and baked with a dark, substantial crust, it has a soft crumb, delicate notes of malt and the gentle sweetness of the grains themselves.