One of my favorite forums or “sub-reddits” on the social media site Reddit is called “Breadit.”
Anyone who has read this column for any length of time probably assumes I like it for the pun (and, yeah, I totally do), but I also adore seeing all the amazing baked goods people create and share with the group.
Breadit has made me really want to try making a loaf of challah, a beautiful braided loaf from the Jewish tradition, at some point.
The one that I don’t know that I will ever try, though, despite my undying admiration for people who achieve a perfect bake, is the croissant.
The idea of rolling out dough and layering it with butter and then rolling out the dough and layering it with butter, over and over again into eternity, is one of the most unappealing ideas I’ve ever seen. In the world of croissants, I’m definitely more of an eater than a baker. The same goes for crescent rolls, which I would much rather just buy in a can and skip the layering.
I think that’s why I was completely fascinated by a video I watched on Instagram recently, which took premade, canned crescent roll dough and turned it into a flaky, buttery loaf of bread—with pretty much zero effort.
I’m sure any chef would tell you it’s an abomination, but of course, I had to give it a try. After all, you know it must be at least a somewhat good idea when the Pillsbury Doughboy’s account comments on the recipe with “Hoo hoo! I love this with my whole tummy!”
This idea comes from a video by an influencer who goes by @that40yearoldguy on Instagram. You can do this with literally just one or two cans of crescent roll dough, or you can turn this into a flavored bread, too, which is what I did.
Quick Croissant Loaf
Ingredients
Bread Ingredients
- 1 or 2 8-ounce cans of crescent roll dough
- butter for greasing pan
Optional Garlic Bread Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons butter
- 1-2 teaspoons garlic salt to taste
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese grated
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Prepare a nine-by-five-inch loaf pan by greasing it with butter and lining it with parchment paper hanging over the sides so the loaf is easy to remove. Set it aside.
- If you’re not adding other flavoring, just open the canned crescent rolls and place them, rolled up, in the prepared pan (either one in the middle or two of them side by side).
- If you are adding to it, melt the butter in a pan or in a microwave-safe dish, and mix in the garlic salt. Carefully roll out the dough, and press the seams together to create a solid surface.
- Brush the melted butter all over the dough, and then sprinkle all over with the cheese. Roll the dough back up like it was and place it in the prepared pan. If you have a little of the butter mixture leftover, brush it on top of the bread.
- Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Slice and serve.
You could easily spread some melted butter with cinnamon and sugar on the inside for something sweeter. Or grab some hazelnut spread or peanut butter to make it a bit gooey.
Really, if it’s something you like inside of bread, it’s not hard to add it to the crescent rolls and see what happens.
This turned out really well. We had it alongside some pasta, and it was a great addition. It was buttery and flaky, and obviously, it was an incredibly simple way to enjoy garlic bread hot out of the oven with pretty much no effort.
Who knew you could actually find an even lazier way to bake canned dough?
While this is no substitution for homemade crescent rolls and definitely not for the even more complicated croissant, it was definitely something I’ll make again at some point.
But despite how many times it ends up in the dinner rotation, I don’t think I’ll be sharing it on Breadit. No matter how good it is, it’s definitely not up to their standards.
This first appeared in print March 26, 2026.
Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.
