baking and personality type
Last night, I fell asleep beneath a fresh copy of Hamelman's Bread. My wife must have come in at some point, took the book on my face, and looked through it, because I awoke to her saying, "This is so you."
"Mmmf?"
"All these measurements and weights and technique... this is who you are. No wonder you love to bake bread!"
So, this got me thinking... how tightly is my desire to bake wrapped up with my personality traits? I recently took one of those online type indicator assessments and found that I closely identify with the INTP type (Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Perceiving). This is apparently one of the more rare types, accounting for between 1%-3% of the population. One of the dominant characteristics of this type is that they seek to understand things, are fascinated with concepts, but aren't so keen on actually perfecting techniques. I can identify with this in many areas of my life, including bread. While I love to read books and try out new techniques, once I understand how they work, I don't care to pursue them to perfection.
Anyway, to the point: what personality traits do home bakers and professional bakers share in common? How are they different? Are most bakers in the introverted camp, or extraverted? If you haven't taken a Myers Briggs Type Indicator assessment, there are plenty available for free on the web, and they only take 20 minutes. These might not meet up to the standards of the APA, but they're kind of fun.
I would love to hear from others on this!
eric