What were donuts originally called?
They were originally called "oily cakes."
The early Americans took the fact that the treats were fried in oil quite literally, naming them olykoeks, translating to "oily cakes." The word 'donut' came soon after when a woman is said to have put nuts in the dough before frying it.
The name of the doughnut
The “nu*t” could be because the olykoeks looked like crunchy, wrinkly walnuts once they had been fried, whereas other sources say that it was because bakers added nuts to the dough to add flavour.
In 1933 donuts were given the title the 'Hit Food of the Century of Progress' at the Chicago World's Fair. Salvation Army volunteers would take donuts and coffee to soldiers in France in the trenches during World War I.
In the Dough
In the United States, the donut's roots date to the 1700s with the Dutch settlers' olykoek (oil cake), the “grandpa of the donut”. In the early 19th century, donuts were mentioned in American food chapters of English cookbooks.
Variations of this toothsome snack were enjoyed throughout Europe for centuries. However, the word doughnut seems to have originated in northeastern England around 1750. Krondl explains it was then that the first recipe, which called for taking “dough the size of a walnut” and frying it, appeared in print.
Most dictionaries enter donut as a variant of doughnut. The spelling of donut without the -ough has appeared in enough written sources (and been made popular by brands such as Dunkin' Donuts) that it has become an accepted spelling.
TIL in Northern Ireland ring doughnuts are known as 'gravy rings' due to the word 'gravy' being an archaic term for cooking oil.
It really depends on where someone is from. LauriPatterson/istockphoto.com. The latest Twitter debate of 2019 regards doughnut holes, a generic term for the center cutout of a regular, circular (or, more specifically, torus-shaped) doughnut.
That's when Massachusetts-based chain Dunkin' Donuts first started taking off — so thank (or blame) Dunkin' for the popularity of the “Donut” spelling. The shortened—dare I say, optimized—spelling, “donut,” is no longer limited to Uncle Sam's back yard, either.
Bagel Corner is a successful French Bagel restaurant concept. A 16-year-old American seaman by the name of Hanson Gregory claimed to have invented the doughnut aboard a lime-trading ship back in 1847.
What was the first National Donut Day?
National Donut Day started in 1938 here in Chicago as a tribute to The Salvation Army “Doughnut Lassies” who supported our troops on the front lines during World War I. It is celebrated annually on the first Friday in June.
The first recorded American use is in Washington Irving, who identifies it as an American name for Dutch olykoeks (oil cookies), which seem to be yeast risen rather than the chemical risen like cake donuts.
In truth, though, many doughnuts with holes don't actually have any dough cut out of them to make their shape. Instead, special machines spray dough into a fryer in a circular pattern. The donut holes you buy at the bakery or grocery store are usually made out of dough simply cut into small squares.
In early colonial times, US Dutch immigrants discovered fried cake. So the story goes, a cow kicked a pot of boiling oil over some pastry mix, thus inventing the golden brown delight.
TIL in Northern Ireland ring doughnuts are known as 'gravy rings' due to the word 'gravy' being an archaic term for cooking oil.
Cake doughnuts, lacking that honeycomb structure of big yeast bubbles, are often (but not always) smaller, with a puckered little hole. A subset, the old-fashioned doughnut, always has a cracked, craggy surface, and in the most classic versions the sides splay out like the petals of a flower.
French cruller. This donut consistently tops lists of the healthiest donut options at Dunkin' Donuts. Each French cruller from Dunkin' only has 220 calories and 10 grams of sugar. As far as donuts go, the French cruller is practically a health food.
Those known as "old fashioned” doughnuts are usually cake doughnuts. The dough is mixed and shaped, usually only recognized as a circular pastry with a hole in the middle, dropped into hot oil and fried, and glazed or dusted with sugar. They can also be baked.
