Sharing is an important part of baking for Janet Tressler-Davis.

When the president and CEO of the Westerville Area Chamber of Commerce decides to whip up something tasty, she makes sure other people – from her two kids to her co-workers – get to enjoy it.

“I like to share,” she says. “Whatever I make, I always bring it into the office.”

Baking has been a lifetime hobby for Tressler-Davis, from the occasional project with her mother as a child to making chocolate chip cookies with her own children (her son Jason and daughter Jordan are now 19 and 21 years old, respectively).

Sharing aside, Tressler-Davis enjoys baking for several other reasons.

“I don’t have a lot of time, and I don’t create recipes, but it helps me relax,” she says. “I do it because I want to, and because I enjoy it.”

Tressler-Davis also takes the occasional risk in the kitchen. For example, she annually sets a personal baking goal: to create a homemade apple pie completely from scratch. She likes to prove to herself she can do it, she says.

“The challenge every year is to get the crust right,” she says.

One of Tressler-Davis’ favorite recipes – and one she has long since mastered – is for strawberry bread, made with whole berries mixed into the dough. The recipe came from a co-worker at her first job – in the human resources department at the JC Penney Casualty Insurance Co. – more than 20 years ago. The recipe makes two loaves of the bread: Tressler-Davis says she usually serves one and freezes the other to enjoy later. Her family enjoys the bread with strawberry cream cheese and it makes a perfect breakfast treat.

Janet Tressler-Davis’ Strawberry Bread
1½ cups oil
2 cups sugar (Davis says she uses 1½ cups)
3 eggs
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¾ teaspoon salt
1 large pack frozen strawberries with juice (thawed)
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

By hand, beat eggs, oil and then sugar together. Blend well. Add soda, cinnamon, and salt and beat well. Add flour and mix again until well blended. Add just the juice from the frozen strawberries, holding back the berries with a fork so they don't fall into the mixture. Mix with a spatula until blended. Add the berries and mix carefully so the berries don't disintegrate. Pour into two greased loaf pans (Tressler-Davis recommends non-stick cooking spray) and bake at 350 degrees for one hour to an hour and 15 minutes. Let cool, then wrap in plastic wrap and foil and store.