Will Pizza Dough Work For Cinnamon Rolls?

There are swap hacks online for almost any food you can think of, including making cinnamon rolls with pizza dough. It's more common to consider using pizza dough to make garlic knots or for baking savory rolls for sandwiches, instead of for sugary cinnamon rolls. So does the sweet switch work? The Takeout spoke to Muhammed Ince, Executive Pastry Chef at Fontainebleau Miami Beach, who shared that it's doable — but there are drawbacks.

"At the base, they're similar," said Ince about the two doughs. "Both use flour, yeast, water, and salt. But cinnamon roll dough is enriched with sugar, eggs, and butter, which gives it that soft, tender crumb. Pizza dough is a lean dough — no sugar, no fat — which makes it chewier and crispier." He said the cinnamon rolls will be "noticeably denser and chewier" if you make the swap. "Pizza dough doesn't have the richness that comes from butter and eggs, so you lose that soft, pillowy bite that makes cinnamon rolls special," he explained.

The rolls not only won't have their characteristic fluffiness, but their flavor will also be "less buttery and not as indulgent," according to Ince. That said, the dough's yeasty taste will be more in the forefront than in regular cinnamon roll dough, which can be a good thing if that's a flavor you like. The more savory flavor might also be a better pairing if you're having cinnamon rolls Midwest-style with chili.

Despite the downsides, using store-bought, homemade, or leftover pizza dough for cinnamon rolls can be a time-saver. If you're making the pizza dough yourself, up its flavor by adding sugar. "You'd need to sweeten the dough a bit," Muhammed Ince advised, because "the base still needs some sweetness to feel like a proper cinnamon roll."

Cinnamon rolls are made by rolling the dough into a rectangle and then spreading on butter, brown sugar (which you can soften if it's too hard), and cinnamon before it's rolled up into a log and sliced into rolls. To help incorporate it into the dough better, try rubbing or spreading the softened butter on the rolled-out dough, or even brushing melted butter on it. You can add richness to the lean dough by pouring heavy cream over the rolls when they're in the pan and ready to bake. You may also have to cook the rolls a few minutes longer than usual because pizza dough contains more water.

Traditional cream cheese frosting or powdered sugar icing  will do a lot to make up for the less flavorful dough. But Ince warned against making the topping overly sweet. "A good cinnamon roll is about balance — rich dough, warm spices, and a smooth glaze, not just sugar overload," he said. You can add extra non-sugary flavor with nutmeg, cardamom, chopped walnuts or pecans, or small apple pieces scattered on with the sugar and cinnamon.