Chocolate Banana Babka

I moved this past weekend. I’m back at my parent’s place for the summer to spend some time with them and all the pets before we move in September. It’s nice, but a bit of a culture shock, too. I’m sure you don’t want to hear about moving (I don’t really care to write about it) but it went well as far as things like that go.

I got a really lovely email from a reader a few days ago. She writes, “Your story really touched me; and as someone who also has struggled with depression all of her life, I’ve been changing my lifestyle bit by bit to keep my depression in check. I’m also doing my best to transition to a vegetarian diet.” So I wanted to write a little update on the topic (I last wrote about it here). I’ve been doing really well overall.

I wasn’t taking my St. John’s Wort for a few days during this moving period and that, combined with the general stress, was making me really emotional and teary. I think we all have periods like that, and it’s good to recognize that people without depression experience that too, and not to let it bother you too much. It can be exhausting to be constantly fighting the symptoms of depression, but if you are depressed, I want you to know that it can get better. I am so much better than I was even last year.

In terms of anxiety, since I started taking aconitum (I got it from a doctor in Germany, check it out if you live there) my attacks have virtually disappeared. I definitely find that if I’m not eating properly or exercising enough that anxiety starts to sneak back in, but I haven’t had an actual anxiety attack in a long time. Every time I get nauseous, though, I think that I am having an attack and sometimes get really shaky and weak because of it. It’s worse at certain times of the month too – you might want to keep track of that and see if your anxiety is worse around your period and try to plan for it.

I also wanted to talk a little bit about how I view my diet these days. I’m not completely vegetarian. It was creating too much stress when I was living at home, as my parents aren’t particularly interested in vegetarianism, so I became a little less strict about it. I never cook meat, and very rarely eat it (and if anything, only fish or poultry). Graham and I never have any meat in the house, and I vastly prefer to eat vegetarian.

Obviously everyone is different and some people wouldn’t be able to do that, but it was the best choice for me. I’m not one of those people who really craves meat and has really missed it, and I don’t like eating it now. That being said, however, if its eating a small piece of fish or dealing with huge amounts of stress by not eating it, I will eat the fish.

I’d say my diet is 99% vegetarian, and I think that 1% is totally okay. I’m just writing this to say that if you are depressed, or have severe anxiety, that you shouldn’t beat yourself up about having the perfect diet. It can create more problems mentally than it solves.

Chocolate is good for mental health problems, too, right? Like in Harry Potter?

I had a bunch of overripe bananas and didn’t feel like making muffins, and yeasted banana bread, i.e. chocolate banana babka, seemed like it’d be amazing. It is. In the first test run of this recipe, I used too much yeast. I forgot that the sugar in the bananas would cause extra rising. The bread exploded out of the pan and was a total mess.

Round two of this vegan chocolate babka had reduced yeast and a little bit less milk, and it was perfect. This recipe isn’t any more complicated that cinnamon buns, so if you can make those, you can make this bread. If braiding is a little out of your comfort zone, just roll it up and bake it that way instead.

The chocolate filling is very simple. You could add a little cinnamon or cardamom to the bread dough if you’d like, but I really enjoyed it without the added spices. This is perhaps not the most spring-like recipe ever, but since there isn’t anything growing here yet anyway, I don’t care. My rhubarb is starting to peek up now. I did a whole series of rhubarb recipes last year, so prepare for much of the same, pals.

This chocolate babka is very tender, and very much like a babka despite being all plant based. There’s no added oil, and the bread is very low in fat. There’s a small amount of maple syrup in the dough but it relies mostly on bananas for sweetness. I decided to use primarily light spelt flour in this babka, but you could certainly try it with whole spelt instead and see how it turns out. I think this is my new go-to when I have too many overripe bananas.

I have several other recipes using yeasted dough, so if this one seems like a little much, you can check them out instead. Bread is my absolute favourite thing to make. I’d happily write a book with just bread recipes. Chocolate babka is a classic but adding bananas really makes this special.

Let’s connect! If you liked this recipe, make sure to leave a comment below, I love hearing from you! Tag me on instagram @occasionallyeggs and #occasionallyeggs so I can see what you’re making, and stay in touch via facebook, pinterest, and bloglovin.