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Baker

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AVG. SALARY

$28,950

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EDUCATION

High school preferred +

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JOB OUTLOOK

Stable

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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.

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