For the right person, baking can be a career choice that is simply joyful.
Justin Bloom started baking at his grandmother's side, and while there,
discovered the bakers' secret trick to mental health. Baking is a type of
therapy that produces some good results -- loaves and loaves of good results.
"My grandmother used to make bread dough when she was too upset to sleep.
She'd punch and beat the dough, working it over and over until she was exhausted
enough to sleep. If there was a lot of fresh bread around, you knew grandmother
had been worried about something," says Bloom.
Baking was not always the result of sleeplessness in Bloom's house -- his
grandmother baked bread, cakes or pastries for any occasion. Bloom, who says
he inherited his grandmother's insomnia, also inherited her love of baking.
"As a boy, I would stand on a stool and watch my grandmother bake for hours.
I was fascinated by the way she would craft the bread, each step completed
carefully. She would give me a little lump of dough and let me work beside
her as she baked."
Bloom got his baking education at a culinary institute in France, but his
apprenticeship began in his grandmother's kitchen when he was six years old.
Decades later, as a master baker and the owner of his own bakery, Bloom can
still picture his grandmother's technique when he makes bread.
"From my grandmother, I learned baking as an art and a science. Even though
she had a lot of hard work to do, she still took great care with everything
she baked. She believed there was no point in baking if you didn't take pride
in your work," says Bloom.
Pride is a key ingredient for any baker, including Melissa Thomas. One
of her favorite things about baking is the pride that comes with doing a terrific
job from start to finish.
"The nice thing about this work is that you are producing a tangible, 'taste-able,'
visual product. It's very satisfying to start with the raw ingredients and
come up with something that looks and tastes wonderful," says Thomas.
Pride has always been a big element in Bloom's work, and this emphasis
on quality has paid off. Bloom says his little bakery has been a success from
the day he opened and most of his customers have been coming back for years.
"I have had customers who ate my bread as their first solid food who are
now bringing in their own children to taste my baking. Two generations of
people in this city have cut their teeth on my bread!"
The popularity of Bloom's bakery certainly could have allowed for an expansion
into a larger store with more employees, but with the exception of a counter
assistant, Bloom still runs his bakery as a one-man show.
While Bloom is certain he could hire any number of bakers capable of doing
a very good job, he feels more comfortable doing all the baking.
"But by doing all the baking myself, I am assured of the quality that goes
out. People come to me for their baked goods for special occasions, holidays
and day-to-day pleasures. I wouldn't want to disappoint a customer -- even
once," says Bloom.
But he also admits there is a little selfishness involved as well.
"I love doing it. I love being elbow deep in batter and being able to tell
from the consistency exactly what the cake will look like. I love being all
alone at the bakery at dawn with the smell of bread baking in the ovens. There
are so many things I love about baking, I wouldn't be able to decide what
tasks to give to an employee," says Bloom.
While passing on work is out of the question for Bloom, he says he feels
like he should take on an apprentice some day.
"I would like to pass on the gifts my grandmother taught me. Baking is
a wonderful trade and it should be shared and passed along, but I hate to
stop long enough to do it."
Bread has been a staple in the human diet for thousands of
years and Thomas believes baked goods are big a part of our cultural traditions.
"If you think about it, what would a birthday or a wedding be without cake,
Valentine's Day without chocolates, Easter without hot cross buns? The work
of a baker is people's daily bread and a central part of our holidays," notes
Thomas.