Frozen Bread Dough Is Your Shortcut To Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

One thing almost everyone can agree on is that cinnamon rolls are the ultimate comfort food. Warm, nutty-tasting dough sports a gooey cinnamon and brown sugar filling and then gets draped in sticky sweet glaze — few things are more delicious. Of course, making cinnamon rolls the traditional way may be a dealbreaker for some, as working with yeasted dough can be tricky and time consuming. However, frozen bread dough may be the shortcut you need to enjoy this decadent dessert more often.

Frozen bread dough allows you to make big, fluffy cinnamon rolls without all the work of making yeasted dough. Instead, you can simply thaw your dough, roll it out, fill, shape, proof, and bake. During proofing, the yeast gobbles up all the sugars in the thawed bread dough, releasing carbon dioxide and causing the cinnamon rolls to nearly double in size. This process is what gives the rolls their signature soft, pillowy texture.

Though frozen bread dough makes truly tasty cinnamon rolls, there are a few pitfalls to watch out for. First, make sure your dough is completely thawed before you begin rolling it out, otherwise your cinnamon rolls may not proof properly and become tough. Thaw it overnight in the fridge or on your countertop for about 2 hours for best results. Additionally, when proofing the dough, it's important to give it enough time to rise fully — about 90 minutes is standard. Your proofing area should also be warm, but not hot, as too much heat could kill your yeast and ruin the dough.

Possibly the only downside to using frozen bread dough to make cinnamon rolls is the potential for a stale or otherwise unpleasant flavor in your final product. This most often happens when your dough is freezer burned or stored with things that have a strong aroma, like frozen garlic bread. If you see evidence of freezer burn, such as gray patches on the dough, you may want to purchase a fresh batch for your cinnamon buns. 

Once you've determined your dough is fresh, there are a handful of other easy hacks to amp up the flavor in your cinnamon buns and make them impossibly decadent and delicious, like the TikTok-famous technique of pouring heavy cream over your cinnamon buns before baking them. Additionally, if you can't get enough cinnamon flavor, it's pretty easy to whip up some homemade cinnamon syrup to drizzle over your buns while they're still warm from the oven.

If you love cinnamon buns stuffed with sweet, gooey goodness, try adding some fruit pie filling to your butter and sugar mixture. Apples and cinnamon are always a hit, but you can also use blueberry, peach, or any other fruit that pairs nicely with cinnamon and brown sugar (which is most of them). A thin layer of jam also works, as would a sprinkling of chocolate or butterscotch chips. Just be sure to seal the edge of your elevated cinnamon rolls with a little water to prevent the extra fillings from leaking out during baking.