Ben Mackinon has been leading a one man revolution since opening the bakery in the railways arches by London Fields. He has an Astre stone mill installed to grind the flour. He has helped set up a Suffolk farm to explore biodiversity and raise different grains, set up training for refugees, and baking classe for everyone else too, What was simply a bakery at first – he is also self taught – has become a cult destination caffe, very busy at the weekends There is a second micro bakery also in Poplar now. The muiltigrain loaf which was one of the first developed has been dropped because it no longer represents the ethics of where E5 is going. Enter the Seeded Stockholm which is mainly from their own farm. The wheat grains are even sprouted in house. Not content with bread, the coffee roasting business sails its harvest from Columbia to a narrow boat in Limehouse – that is a cool 7, 500 miles. It has been a ” beautiful, winding and not always easy path,” he says. Bravo.
