# What is pane degli angeli?



## sparkie (Feb 12, 2011)

I was thinking about making some ciambella(sp?). The Italian market is kind of a hike if I need to buy more pane degli angeli. Can I just substitute baking powder or soda?


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

Hi Sparkie,

Making a ciambellone? 

Pane degli angeli (bread of the angels) is a brand of baking stuff like baking powder, fake vanilla powder, yeast, etc. 

(It's also a cake, not really angelfood cake but a soft light (but dry) cake)

Anyway, I have the inverse problem here, it's hard to find baking powder and I found that the pane degli angeli baking powder can be substituted teaspoon for teaspoon for baking powder.  The only thing is that it has that horrible taste of artificial vanilla powder.  (For some reason they don;t sell vanilla extract anywhere).  An envelope of it is 15 grams.  I don't know how many tsps that is, but you can probably find teaspoon-to-gram of flour equivalences on internet somewhere. 

Then use real vanilla extract!

hope this helps


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

If I am not mistaken it is an Italian Yeast. I have seen it in packages in gourmet shops. I myself have never used it. I can tell you that no baking soda is a true sub for any yeast.


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## siduri (Aug 13, 2006)

chefedb said:


> If I am not mistaken it is an Italian Yeast. I have seen it in packages in gourmet shops. I myself have never used it. I can tell you that no baking soda is a true sub for any yeast.


Chefed - maybe our posts crossed each other - pane degli angeli is the brand, they make yeast but also (mainly) baking powder, fake vanilla powder, powdered sugar, potato starch, cornstarch, etc.

The ciambellone Sparky wants to make is a typical italian home cake, made with baking powder. In many recipes in Italy, especially if a friend writes it down for you, they simply say to put in an envelope of pane degli angeli.

But, Sparky, if you wanted to make actual "ciambelle" (that is, doughnuts) then you do want the yeast. But i presume you want the big cake with the hole in the middle, right?


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## sparkie (Feb 12, 2011)

Thanx Siduri, I was hoping that you noticed this one. You are correct in assuming that I'll be making the cake. Will proceed with using baking powder 1 for 1. It'll sure be nice to not have to track that stuff down every time I want to make this.


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## chefedb (Apr 3, 2010)

All I said was baking powder and yeast are 2 seperate and distinct items. In most cases one can't be substituted for the other.,and the package I saw was yeast .  It is possibly a brand name of a packer or distributor that also packages other things


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## sparkie (Feb 12, 2011)

Ok, I know is been a while, but I thought I would update this anyway.

One pack of Pane Degli Angeli contains 1 tablespoon. It can be substituted 1:1 with baking powder.

I have since the original post made the recipe twice. Once with the pane and once with out. The Pane does smell like vanilla( must be the vanilla powder Siduri mentioned) but made no adjustments to my recipe for either case. Both turned out wonderful, moisture, flavor, texture. The only difference between the two, was that I had some tunnelling with future baking powder. Also the top cracked a bit more than what I'm used to. I think that this may be my fault and the powder. For now I'll chalk that up to over mixing and maybe the oven temp was off. 

As I sit now, I will sub baking power without hesitation. Unless perhaps I'm really trying to impress. I'm sure after a few more times with baking power I may just forget about the Pane altogether. One day when I have some time, I hope to post a recipe with pics.


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