Sara Brezensky: My Favorite Banana Bread
By Dennis Linden
Sara Brezensky, a member of the company’s Retail Sales Team, gives her family’s traditional banana bread recipe a very tasty upgrade with a trip to the Melissa’s pantry. To borrow a well-known chef’s signature saying, she has kicked up banana bread at least two notches with her unique recipe!
“This recipe came from family friends we knew growing up; it has been a handwritten recipe for as long as I can remember,” recalled Sara. “They had five daughters who used to babysit me and my sister, sometimes bringing this bread to share with us. Growing up my dad used to make it every time we had a few overripe bananas that were about to go bad. Now, my sister and I both make it for our own families, neighbors, and friends at Christmas time. For me, just the aroma of the bread baking brings back so many good childhood memories.”
The most searched-for bread recipe online across America is banana bread! Banana bread even has an interesting history that really started with the stock market crash of 1929. As one of the most difficult perishable items to ship, bananas were non-existent in this country in the 1800s until refrigeration technology could handle the challenge of transporting a very perishable fruit that continues to ripen in transit at the beginning of the 1900s. The 1929 stock market crash that lasted throughout much of the 1930s, made every scrap of food precious. Households were unwilling to throw away anything — even a "rotten" banana. At about this same time, baking powder/baking soda manufacturers began mass producing their products, making these chemical leaveners widely available nationwide for the first time. So, the need to use overripe bananas and the availability of baking powder inspired a plethora of recipes for banana "quick bread" (as opposed to yeast bread). By the early 1930s, banana bread recipes — using mashed bananas as the main ingredient, rather than banana slices as a garnish — started appearing in cookbooks like Better Homes & Gardens and promoted by Pillsbury Flour.
That trip to the Melissa’s pantry of products to upgrade her family’s recipe could also be the start of a new tradition with the addition of blueberries, vanilla bean seeds and some tasty Green Hatch Pepper Pecans. These add-ons transformed a basic banana bread into something special. However, good ideas need to be implemented correctly to be successful and Sara’s recipe comes with a few preparation tips that should not be missed.
Baking with blueberries, fresh or dried, can be problematic as the berry has the reputation of bursting under high heat and then bleeding into the rest of the item, be it a muffin or a loaf of bread. Blue-grey banana bread can result! A quick ‘net search will produce a lot of opinions and suggestions to avoid this—like freezing fresh berries before baking or just buying frozen. After reconstituting Melissa’s dried blueberries (hot water/15 min. soak) I decided to try a simple trick that I had read about that seemed a good remedy if it worked. That was dusting the berries with flour before folding them into the dough. And it did the job! Plump whole berries throughout the finished loaf.
Culinary confession: for me, vanilla has always come out of a small, pricey bottle. Fresh vanilla beans do not compare! Wow—the aroma permeates the air just splitting the bean. At first, I was concerned that the concentrated aroma-flavor of the collected seeds would overwhelm the banana taste, but I was just not used to working with the real thing. The seeds lent an accent to the profile, yet the taste was a subtle thing that lingered on the palate. And save those scraped-out pods for other uses—like the morning coffee pot!
Sara’s original recipe designated the Hatch Pepper Pecans as “optional.” Frankly, I was skeptical, too, as I really could not imagine the combo of Hatch Pepper and banana on the same plate! Note that the optional designation has been removed. The “cover” of this recipe is its ingredient list. The rule is never to judge anything by its cover, so I stand corrected. While a very slight hint of spicey-salty was detected, the texture of the nuts and the flavor were both quite welcome, adding to the taste experience. It was not an ingredient I would have thought to try. Sara did, and it worked!
Sara Brezensky has been a member of Melissa’s team of retailer representatives for about three years. She works with all the store managers of the largest privately owned supermarket chain in Southern California. Her client operates over 150 stores throughout the region, making Sara one of the company’s busiest “road warriors.” She spends most of her working day in retail produce departments servicing a group of those stores exclusively.
“To friends not in fresh produce, I have summed up my job as visiting grocery stores to make fruit and veggies look pretty and then assist managers with ordering. That is simplistic, but it is what I do basically. I love getting to know all the different people that I would never have had the opportunity to get to meet if it were not for this job. Plus, every day brings me somewhere different! The most challenging part can be the different personalities I have to encounter to get the job done. Failure is not an option, so I will spend more time asking questions and listening to them, trying to discover their personality and how I can relate to them. This is a business of relationships. Everyone will respond to a genuine smile. I smile a lot!”
When not working with store managers or building retail displays, Sara has a full household to manage. Husband CJ, Braylee 4, Kane 1½, Rex the dog, and Jasper the cat keep her busy. Food continues to dominate her life away from the office.
“CJ and I love finding new local places to dine out when a babysitter can be found. I just love food! It has been a passion my whole life, from standing on a chair as kid while my parents cooked to going to culinary school, and now making my career in a fresh food-centric industry. In fact, my idol and the one person I would have loved to meet is Julia Child. A woman who also loved food! She paved the way for women like me to operate in male-dominated professions like both the restaurant and fresh produce businesses used to be. Ha, I think she would absolutely love the fact that I work for Melissa’s, a food company named for a woman!”
My Favorite Banana Bread
Ingredients
3 ripe Bananas, mashed
1/2 cup oil
1 Melissa’s vanilla bean, seeds scraped
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 3/4 cup flour
¼ cup Dried Melissa’s blueberries, rehydrated*
¼ cup Hatch pecans (optional)
1 loaf pan, coated with cooking spray
Preparation
In a mixing bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a fork until completely smooth, then stir in the oil.
Extract vanilla pod seeds: Slice each pod in half crosswise, then cut each half lengthwise leaving the tips of pod halves intact. Scrape out the vanilla seeds with a serrated bread spoon; save the pods for many other uses.
Add the vanilla seeds to the mashed banana mixture along with the baking soda and salt. Then stir in the sugar, beaten eggs, buttermilk and flour to form a batter. Then gently fold in blueberries and pecans if desired.
Pour the batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 75 minutes at 325°F or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for a few minutes. Then remove the banana bread from the pan and let cool completely before serving. Slice and serve.
“This recipe came from family friends we knew growing up; it has been a handwritten recipe for as long as I can remember,” recalled Sara. “They had five daughters who used to babysit me and my sister, sometimes bringing this bread to share with us. Growing up my dad used to make it every time we had a few overripe bananas that were about to go bad. Now, my sister and I both make it for our own families, neighbors, and friends at Christmas time. For me, just the aroma of the bread baking brings back so many good childhood memories.”
The most searched-for bread recipe online across America is banana bread! Banana bread even has an interesting history that really started with the stock market crash of 1929. As one of the most difficult perishable items to ship, bananas were non-existent in this country in the 1800s until refrigeration technology could handle the challenge of transporting a very perishable fruit that continues to ripen in transit at the beginning of the 1900s. The 1929 stock market crash that lasted throughout much of the 1930s, made every scrap of food precious. Households were unwilling to throw away anything — even a "rotten" banana. At about this same time, baking powder/baking soda manufacturers began mass producing their products, making these chemical leaveners widely available nationwide for the first time. So, the need to use overripe bananas and the availability of baking powder inspired a plethora of recipes for banana "quick bread" (as opposed to yeast bread). By the early 1930s, banana bread recipes — using mashed bananas as the main ingredient, rather than banana slices as a garnish — started appearing in cookbooks like Better Homes & Gardens and promoted by Pillsbury Flour.
That trip to the Melissa’s pantry of products to upgrade her family’s recipe could also be the start of a new tradition with the addition of blueberries, vanilla bean seeds and some tasty Green Hatch Pepper Pecans. These add-ons transformed a basic banana bread into something special. However, good ideas need to be implemented correctly to be successful and Sara’s recipe comes with a few preparation tips that should not be missed.
Baking with blueberries, fresh or dried, can be problematic as the berry has the reputation of bursting under high heat and then bleeding into the rest of the item, be it a muffin or a loaf of bread. Blue-grey banana bread can result! A quick ‘net search will produce a lot of opinions and suggestions to avoid this—like freezing fresh berries before baking or just buying frozen. After reconstituting Melissa’s dried blueberries (hot water/15 min. soak) I decided to try a simple trick that I had read about that seemed a good remedy if it worked. That was dusting the berries with flour before folding them into the dough. And it did the job! Plump whole berries throughout the finished loaf.
Culinary confession: for me, vanilla has always come out of a small, pricey bottle. Fresh vanilla beans do not compare! Wow—the aroma permeates the air just splitting the bean. At first, I was concerned that the concentrated aroma-flavor of the collected seeds would overwhelm the banana taste, but I was just not used to working with the real thing. The seeds lent an accent to the profile, yet the taste was a subtle thing that lingered on the palate. And save those scraped-out pods for other uses—like the morning coffee pot!
Sara’s original recipe designated the Hatch Pepper Pecans as “optional.” Frankly, I was skeptical, too, as I really could not imagine the combo of Hatch Pepper and banana on the same plate! Note that the optional designation has been removed. The “cover” of this recipe is its ingredient list. The rule is never to judge anything by its cover, so I stand corrected. While a very slight hint of spicey-salty was detected, the texture of the nuts and the flavor were both quite welcome, adding to the taste experience. It was not an ingredient I would have thought to try. Sara did, and it worked!
“To friends not in fresh produce, I have summed up my job as visiting grocery stores to make fruit and veggies look pretty and then assist managers with ordering. That is simplistic, but it is what I do basically. I love getting to know all the different people that I would never have had the opportunity to get to meet if it were not for this job. Plus, every day brings me somewhere different! The most challenging part can be the different personalities I have to encounter to get the job done. Failure is not an option, so I will spend more time asking questions and listening to them, trying to discover their personality and how I can relate to them. This is a business of relationships. Everyone will respond to a genuine smile. I smile a lot!”
When not working with store managers or building retail displays, Sara has a full household to manage. Husband CJ, Braylee 4, Kane 1½, Rex the dog, and Jasper the cat keep her busy. Food continues to dominate her life away from the office.
“CJ and I love finding new local places to dine out when a babysitter can be found. I just love food! It has been a passion my whole life, from standing on a chair as kid while my parents cooked to going to culinary school, and now making my career in a fresh food-centric industry. In fact, my idol and the one person I would have loved to meet is Julia Child. A woman who also loved food! She paved the way for women like me to operate in male-dominated professions like both the restaurant and fresh produce businesses used to be. Ha, I think she would absolutely love the fact that I work for Melissa’s, a food company named for a woman!”
My Favorite Banana Bread
3 ripe Bananas, mashed
1/2 cup oil
1 Melissa’s vanilla bean, seeds scraped
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 3/4 cup flour
¼ cup Dried Melissa’s blueberries, rehydrated*
¼ cup Hatch pecans (optional)
1 loaf pan, coated with cooking spray
Preparation
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