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When anyone in my boyfriend's family cooks they stick to the recipe exactly, without changing. I stay close, but usually I don't measure as well as I could. The only time I really ran into a problem was when I accidentally used the half cup only for this whole recipe that called for cups...the cookies I made were a little thick and there was hardly any dough--but I didn't actually notice my mistake until doing the dishes later. Otherwise, it's never been a problem.

I always follow the baking powder and/or baking soda instructions to the letter, especially with buttermilk. Pancakes are fickle things after all.

If I am baking I follow to a tee, or if I am trying out a new recipe of something I have never had or tasted. But otherwise I play around with what I am adding and go by taste for most things.

I tend to only make relatively small adjustments when I cook, but occasionally I go the whole hog and toss in whatever I think might work. When baking a complicated recipe, I usually try to follow it exactly, but if it's a recipe I've made more than one, I'll make changes to suit my mood-- a dash of different flavored extracts, different types of flours, toppings, more/less sugar, et cetera.

When I met my now wife I scared her half to death with my willingness to improvise in the kitchen. She would find a recipe she would want to do and I'd take a look at it and then proceed to do whatever I decided upon that starting point. She's a baker at heart so she wanted to follow the instructions to insure that it would work. We all know that most recipes are poorly written so I take all of them as design guidelines rather than specifications. 6 years later she's used to me doing this but it still weirds her when we go to the store to get supplies for dinner without a list or idea as to what I'm making. 2 nights ago I decided at the store to make braised short ribs in cherry agrodolce. It was superb, came essentially out of my head and she almost licked the plate clean.

Once you know your tastes and techniques recipes aren't that important unless you want to have repeatability. All my dishes are "custom one-off". But when I bake bread I'm as scientific and recipe bound as she is when she makes her pastry.