Last updated on July 17th, 2022 at 12:12 am
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Traditional cinnamon rolls are a pastry made from dough. Pizza crust is also made from dough. Pizza dough is used to make, you guessed it, pizza! And cinnamon roll dough? Yes, cinnamon rolls!
Pizza dough is layered with toppings and then baked in the oven. After a few minutes it comes out as a perfectly baked pizza ready to eat. Cinnamon dough is also a bread-like dough that contains sweet ingredients and rises into a fluffy roll that is then drizzled with a sweet glaze.
Both of the doughs used to make these different foods are bread doughs. So, is pizza dough the same as cinnamon roll dough?
Pizza dough and cinnamon dough are different. Although they contain some of the same ingredients, they have different ingredients added in to make them into either a pizza or cinnamon rolls and are prepared and baked differently.

We all remember when we would go to grandma’s house. Sitting in her kitchen, the smell of cinnamon and bread filled the air as she was baking some cinnamon rolls in the oven. There’s just something so warm and comforting about a fresh batch of fluffy cinnamon rolls coming right out of the oven.
Once they were finished baking, Grandma would take them out of the oven. As she drizzled wonderful sweet glaze over them, you couldn’t wait to enjoy each delicious bite. Cinnamon rolls are a favorite breakfast food for many. They are sweet and tasty and since they are made with bread dough, they are similar to other types of bread-like foods.
Pizza dough is made with a bread dough just like cinnamon roll dough, which can cause us to wonder if these doughs are the same. But, they aren’t. Pizza dough isn’t the same as cinnamon roll dough. Cinnamon roll dough is used to make a sweet breakfast pastry. Pizza dough isn’t sweet and is used to make a pizza.
Both are made from bread flour, but pizza dough and cinnamon dough are not the same.
Both pizza dough and cinnamon roll dough are made with bread flour. But, the difference between the two is that they have other ingredients that make them into a cinnamon roll or a pizza crust. Cinnamon roll dough has sugar and cinnamon added in along with egg, butter, etc. Pizza dough does not contain any of these and is more of just flour, water, salt, and yeast.
Pizza dough can be used to make cinnamon rolls but cinnamon roll dough can not be made into pizza dough. It is a yeasty bread but very sweet, and it isn’t meant to be the same.
Both of these doughs are meant to be for different types of food. One, flavorful pizza crust and the other a yummy dessert. You may think that it is similar to a donut dough, but cinnamon roll dough is different from donut dough, too. Cinnamon rolls are a sweet baked dough that is filled with cinnamon and sugar and drizzled with a glaze.
Pizza crust is made from a flavorful dough that is topped with meat, cheese, and sauce to make a pizza. So, both pizza dough and cinnamon dough are made from bread dough but they are not the same.
What Dough Is Similar To Pizza Dough?
Pizza dough contains the same basic ingredients as bread dough. It can be used as a substitute to make certain bread-like foods. What makes pizza dough different is in how it is proofed, shaped, and baked.
So, what dough is similar to pizza dough?
Pizza dough is made with bread flour and many bread doughs are similar to pizza dough. The closest thing to pizza dough is focaccia which is an Italian bread. Pizza dough can be used interchangeably in many recipes calling for bread dough.
You can use pizza dough to make pretty much any other type of bread-like food including cinnamon rolls. But cinnamon roll dough can’t be used to make pizza dough because it has cinnamon in it and is sweet.
Pizza dough is basically the same as bread dough except for its ratio of ingredients. These doughs can be used interchangeably, after making some tweaks to the recipes you are making.
The amount of salt, water and oil in pizza dough is different from that in bread since pizza dough contains less water than bread dough does, but both contain a good amount of flour. So, bread dough is made with a slight variation of ingredients, as well as different times for kneading, rising, baking, etc.
The closest dough to pizza dough is focaccia which is a flat leavened oven-baked Italian bread similar to pizza in its style and texture. This round, rectangular, or square shaped bread is sometimes called “pizza bianca” and is served as a side dish, sandwich bread, or can be used as a substitute for pizza dough.
What Is Pizza Dough/Cinnamon Roll Dough Made From?
Pizza dough is obviously used to make pizzas and is savory rather than sweet. Cinnamon roll dough is obviously used to make cinnamon rolls and is sweet rather than savory.
So, what is pizza dough and cinnamon dough made from?
Both pizza dough and cinnamon roll dough are made from bread dough, but used to make different foods. They have the same basic ingredients of yeast, flour, salt and sugar but that is where their similarities end.
While cinnamon dough is baked into more of a pastry type breakfast food, pizza dough is baked into a bread-like foundation for pizza. Pizza dough can be substituted for bread dough in many recipes but cinnamon roll dough can’t be because it isn’t as basic as pizza dough.
You can use pizza dough the same way you would cinnamon roll dough and make cinnamon rolls, but cinnamon roll dough can’t be used to make a pizza crust because it is sweetened. You don’t want a cinnamon and sugary pizza crust (unless making a dessert pizza). It just wouldn’t taste right!
But, because pizza dough isn’t sweetened and is pretty basic, you can easily add the needed ingredients to it to make it into cinnamon roll dough. Let’s take a look at the basic ingredients of both cinnamon roll dough and pizza dough so you can understand how they are different from one another:
Cinnamon dough is made from:
- Milk
- Flour
- Active dry Yeast
- Butter
- Sugar
- Sour cream
- Egg
- Salt
Pizza dough is made from:
- Flour
- Sugar
- Instant dry yeast
- Salt
- Water
- Oil
Final Thoughts
Even though they are both made from bread flour, they have different ingredients and are prepared and baked differently. Cinnamon rolls are a sweet breakfast pastry and pizza dough is used to make a flavorful pizza crust.
So, pizza dough isn’t the same as cinnamon roll dough but they are very similar.