Donut

A **doughnut** or **donut** (IPA: /doʊnət/) is a type of leavened fried dough. It is popular in many countries and is prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franchised specialty vendors. 'Doughnut' is the traditional spelling, whilst 'donut' is the simplified version. Both terms are often used interchangeably in the English-language. Doughnuts are usually deep fried from a flour dough, and typically either ring-shaped or a number of shapes without a hole, and often filled, but can also be ball-shaped ("doughnut holes"). Other types of batters can also be used, and various toppings and flavorings are used for different types, such as sugar, chocolate, or maple glazing. Doughnuts may also include water, leavening, eggs, milk, sugar, oil, shortening, and natural or artificial flavors.

The two most common types are the ring doughnut and the filled doughnut, which is injected with fruit preserves, cream, custard, or other sweet fillings. Alternatively, small pieces of dough are sometimes cooked as *doughnut holes*. Once fried, doughnuts may be *glazed* with a sugar icing, spread with icing or chocolate on top, or topped with powdered sugar, cinnamon, sprinkles or fruit. Other shapes include rings, balls, flattened spheres, twists, and other forms. Doughnut varieties are also divided into cake (including the old-fashioned) and yeast-risen type doughnuts. Doughnuts are often accompanied by coffee purchased at doughnut shops, convenience stores, petrol/gas stations, cafes or fast food restaurants, but can also be paired with milk.

# Shapes

### **Rings**

Ring doughnuts are formed by one of two methods: by joining the ends of a long, skinny piece of dough into a ring, or by using a doughnut cutter, which simultaneously cuts the outside and inside shape, leaving a doughnut-shaped piece of dough and a doughnut hole (from the dough removed from the center). This smaller piece of dough can be cooked and served as a "doughnut hole" or added back to the batch to make more doughnuts. A disk-shaped doughnut can also be stretched and pinched into a torus until the center breaks to form a hole. Alternatively, a doughnut depositor can be used to place a circle of liquid dough (batter) directly into the fryer.

There are two types of ring doughnuts, those made from a yeast-based dough for raised doughnuts, or those made from a special type of cake batter. Yeast-raised doughnuts contain about 25% oil by weight, whereas cake doughnuts' oil content is around 20%, but they have extra fat included in the batter before frying. Cake doughnuts are fried for about 90 seconds at approximately 190 to 198 °C (374 to 388 °F), turning once. Yeast-raised doughnuts absorb more oil because they take longer to fry, about 150 seconds, at 182 to 190 °C (360 to 374 °F). Cake doughnuts typically weigh between 24 and 28 g (0.85 and 0.99 oz), whereas yeast-raised doughnuts average 38 g (1.3 oz) and are generally larger, and taller (due to rising) when finished.

### **Topping**

After frying, ring doughnuts are often topped. Raised doughnuts are generally covered with a glaze (icing). Cake doughnuts can also be glazed, or powdered with confectioner's sugar, or covered with cinnamon and granulated sugar. They are also often topped with cake frosting (top-side only) and sometimes sprinkled with coconut, chopped peanuts, or sprinkles (also called jimmies).

### **Holes**

Doughnut holes are small, bite-sized doughnuts that were traditionally made from the dough taken from the center of ring doughnuts. Before long, doughnut sellers saw the opportunity to market "holes" as a novelty and many chains offer their own variety, some with their own brand names such as "Munchkins" from Dunkin' and "Timbits" from Tim Hortons.

Traditionally, doughnut holes are made by frying the dough removed from the center portion of the doughnut. Consequently, they are considerably smaller than a standard doughnut and tend to be spherical. Similar to standard doughnuts, doughnut holes may be topped with confections, such as glaze or powdered sugar.

Originally, most varieties of doughnut holes were derivatives of their ring doughnut (yeast-based dough or cake batter) counterparts. However, doughnut holes can also be made by dropping a small ball of dough into hot oil from a specially shaped nozzle or cutter. This production method has allowed doughnut sellers to produce bite-sized versions of non-ring doughnuts, such as filled doughnuts, fritters and Dutchies.

### **Filled**

Filled doughnuts are flattened spheres injected with fruit preserves, cream, custard, or other sweet fillings, and often dipped into powdered sugar or topped off with frosting. Common varieties include the Boston cream, coconut, key lime, and jelly.

### **Other shapes**

Others include the fritter and the Dutchie, which are usually glazed. These have been available on Tim Hortons' doughnut menu since the chain's inception in 1964, and a 1991 *Toronto Star* report found these two were the chain's most popular type of fried dough in Canada.

There are many other specialized doughnut shapes such as old-fashioned, bars or Long Johns (a rectangular shape), or with the dough twisted around itself before cooking. In the northeast United States, bars and twists are usually referred to as *crullers*. Another is the beignet, a square-shaped doughnut covered with powdered sugar, commonly associated with New Orleans.

# History

### **Origins**

The earliest origins to the modern doughnuts are generally traced back to the *olykoek* ("oil(y) cake") Dutch settlers brought with them to early New York (or New Amsterdam). These doughnuts closely resembled later ones but did not yet have their current ring shape. One of the earliest mentions of "doughnut" was in Washington Irving's 1809 book *A History of New York, from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty*:

Sometimes the table was graced with immense apple-pies, or saucers full of preserved peaches and pears; but it was always sure to boast of an enormous dish of balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog’s fat, and called dough-nuts, or oly koeks: a delicious kind of cake, at present scarce known in this city, excepting in genuine Dutch families.

The name *oly koeks* was almost certainly related to the *oliekoek*: a Dutch delicacy of "sweetened cake fried in fat."

According to anthropologist Paul R. Mullins, the first cookbook mentioning doughnuts was an 1803 English volume which included doughnuts in an appendix of American recipes. He also traces its origins to the *oliekoek* that arrived in America with the Dutch settlers in the early 18th century. By the mid-19th century, the doughnut looked and tasted like today's doughnut, and was viewed as a thoroughly American food.

Hanson Gregory, an American, claimed to have invented the ring-shaped doughnut in 1847 aboard a lime-trading ship when he was 16 years old. Gregory was dissatisfied with the greasiness of doughnuts twisted into various shapes and with the raw center of regular doughnuts. He claimed to have punched a hole in the center of dough with the ship's tin pepper box, and to have later taught the technique to his mother. *Smithsonian Magazine* states that his mother, Elizabeth Gregory, "made a wicked deep-fried dough that cleverly used her son's spice cargo of nutmeg and cinnamon, along with lemon rind," and "put hazelnuts or walnuts in the center, where the dough might not cook through", and called the food 'doughnuts'.

Another theory on their origin came to light in 2013, when a recipe for "dow nuts" was found in a book of recipes and domestic tips written around 1800 by the wife of Baron Thomas Dimsdale, the recipe being given to the dowager Baroness by an acquaintance who transcribed for her the cooking instructions for a "dow nut".

### “**Dough nut”**

The earliest known recorded usage of the term dates to an 1808 short story describing a spread of "fire-cakes and dough-nuts". Washington Irving's reference to "doughnuts" in 1809 in his *History of New York* is more commonly cited as the first written recording of the term. Irving described "balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog's fat, and called doughnuts, or*olykoeks*." These "nuts" of fried dough might now be called doughnut holes (see holes section). The word *nut* is here used in the earlier sense of "small rounded cake or cookie", also seen in ginger nut. *Doughnut* is the traditional spelling and still dominates even in the United States though *donut* is often used. At present, *doughnut* and the shortened form *donut* are both pervasive in American English.

### **“Donut”**

The first known printed use of *donut* was in *Peck's Bad Boy and his Pa* by George W. Peck, published in 1900, in which a character is quoted as saying, "Pa said he guessed he hadn't got much appetite, and he would just drink a cup of coffee and eat a donut." According to John T. Edge (*Donuts, an American passion* 2006) the alternative spelling "donut" was invented when the New York–based Display Doughnut Machine Corporation abbreviated the word to make it more pronounceable by the foreigners they hoped would buy their automated doughnut making equipment. The donut spelling also showed up in a *Los Angeles Times* article dated August 10, 1929 in which Bailey Millard jokingly complains about the decline of spelling, and that he "can't swallow the 'wel-dun donut' nor the ever so 'gud bred'."

The interchangeability of the two spellings can be found in a series of "National Donut Week" articles in *The New York Times* that covered the 1939 World's Fair. In four articles beginning October 9, two mention the *donut* spelling. Dunkin', which was so-named in 1950, following its 1948 founding under the name Open Kettle (Quincy, Massachusetts), is the oldest surviving company to use the *donut* variation; other chains, such as the defunct Mayflower Doughnut Corporation (1931), did not use that spelling. According to the Oxford Dictionaries while "doughnut" is used internationally, the spelling "donut" is American. The spelling "donut" remained rare until the 1950s, and has since grown significantly in popularity; this growth in use has possibly been influenced by the spread of Dunkin'.

### **National Doughnut Day**

National Doughnut Day, also known as National Donut Day, celebrated in the United States of America, is on the first Friday of June each year, succeeding the Doughnut Day event created by The Salvation Army in 1938 to honor those of their members who served doughnuts to soldiers during World War I. About 250 Salvation Army volunteers went to France. Because of the difficulties of providing freshly baked goods from huts established in abandoned buildings near the front lines, the two Salvation Army volunteers (Ensign Margaret Sheldon and Adjutant Helen Purviance) came up with the idea of providing doughnuts. These are reported to have been an "instant hit", and "soon many soldiers were visiting The Salvation Army huts". Margaret Sheldon wrote of one busy day: "Today I made 22 pies, 300 doughnuts, 700 cups of coffee." Soon, the women who did this work became known by the servicemen as "Doughnut Dollies".

### **Pink boxes**

In the US, especially in Southern California, fresh doughnuts sold by the dozen at local doughnut shops are typically packaged in generic pink boxes. This phenomenon can be attributed to Ted Ngoy and Ning Yen, refugees of the Cambodian genocide who transformed the local doughnut shop industry. They proved so adept at the business and in training fellow Chinese Cambodian refugees to follow suit that these local doughnut shops soon dominated native franchises such as Winchell's Donuts. Initially desiring boxes of a lucky red color rather than the standard white, Ngoy and Yen settled on a cheaper, leftover pink stock. Owing to the success of their business, the color soon became a recognizable standard. Due to the locality of Hollywood, the pink boxes frequently appeared as film and television props and were thus transmitted into popular culture.

# Science

### **Cake vs yeast style**

Yeast doughnuts and cake doughnuts contain most of the same ingredients, however, their structural differences arise from the type of flour and leavening agent used. In cake doughnuts, cake flour is used, and the resulting doughnut is denser because cake flour has a relatively low gluten content of about 7 to 8 percent. In yeast doughnuts, a flour with a higher protein content of about 9 to 12 percent is used, resulting in a doughnut that is lighter and more airy. In addition, yeast doughnuts utilize yeast as a leavening agent. Specifically, "Yeast cells are thoroughly distributed throughout the dough and begin to feed on the sugar that is present ... carbon dioxide gas is generated, which raises the dough, making it light and porous."Whereas this process is biological, the leavening process in cake doughnuts is chemical. In cake doughnuts, the most common leavening agent is baking powder. Baking powder is essentially "baking soda with acid added. This neutralizes the base and produces more CO2 according to the following equation: NaHCO3 + H+ → Na+ + H2O + CO2."

### **Physical structure**

The physical structure of the doughnut is created by the combination of flour, leavening agent, sugar, eggs, salt, water, shortening, milk solids, and additional components. The most important ingredients for creating the dough network are the flour and eggs. The main protein in flour is gluten, which is overall responsible for creating elastic dough because this protein acts as "coiled springs." The gluten network is composed of two separate molecules named glutenin and gliadin. Specifically, "the backbone of the gluten network likely consists of the largest glutenin molecules, or subunits, aligned and tightly linked to one another. These tightly linked glutenin subunits associate more loosely, along with gliadin, into larger gluten aggregates." The gluten strands than tangle and interact with other strands and other molecules, resulting in networks that provide the elasticity of the dough. In mixing, the gluten is developed when the force of the mixer draws the gluten from the wheat endosperm, allowing the gluten matrix to trap the gas cells.

### **Molecular composition**

Eggs function as emulsifiers, foaming agents, and tenderizers in the dough. The egg white proteins, mainly ovalbumin, "function as structure formers. Egg solids, chiefly the egg white solids combined with the moisture in the egg, are considered structure-forming materials that help significantly to produce proper volume, grain, and texture." The egg yolk contributes proteins, fats, and emulsifiers to the dough. Emulsifying agents are essential to doughnut formation because they prevent the fat molecules from separating from the water molecules in the dough. The main emulsifier in egg yolk is called lecithin, which is a phospholipid. "The fatty acids are attracted to fats and oils (lipids) in food, while the phosphate group is attracted to water. It is this ability to attract both lipids and water that allow phospholipids such as lecithin to act as emulsifiers." The proteins from both the egg yolk and the egg whites contribute to the structure of the dough through a process called coagulation. When heat is applied to the dough, the egg proteins will begin to unfold, or denature, and then form new bonds with one another, thus creating a gel-like network that can hold water and gas.

Shortening is responsible for providing tenderness and aerating the dough. In terms of its molecular structure, "a typical shortening that appears solid [at room temperature] contains 15-20% solids and, hence, 80-85% liquid oil ... this small amount of solids can be made to hold all of the liquid in a matrix of very small, stable, needlelike crystals (beta-prime crystals)." This crystalline structure is considered highly stable due to how tightly its molecules are packed. The sugar used in baking is essentially sucrose, and besides imparting sweetness in the doughnut, sugar also functions in the color and tenderness of the final product. Sucrose is a simple carbohydrate whose structure is made up of a glucose molecule bound to a fructose molecule. Milk is utilized in the making of doughnuts, but in large scale bakeries, one form of milk used is nonfat dry milk solids. These solids are obtained by removing most of the water from skim milk with heat, and this heat additionally denatures the whey proteins and increases the absorption properties of the remaining proteins. The ability of the casein and whey proteins to absorb excess water is essential to prolonging the doughnut's freshness. The major whey protein in the nonfat milk solids is known as beta-lactoglobulin, and a crucial feature of its structure is that there exists a single sulfhydryl group that is protected by the alpha helix, and when heating of the milk solids occurs, these groups participate in disulfide exchanges with other molecules. This interchange prevents the renaturation of the whey proteins. If the crosslinking of the sulfide groups does not occur, the whey proteins can rebond and weaken the gluten network.

Water is a necessary ingredient in the production of doughnuts because it activates the other ingredients, allowing them to perform their functions in building the doughnut's structure. For example, sugar and salt crystals must be dissolved in order for them to act in the dough, whereas larger molecules, such as the starches or proteins, must be hydrated in order for them to absorb moisture. Another important consideration of water is its degree of hardness, which measures the amount of impurities in the water source. Pure water consists of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, but water used in baking often is not pure. Baker's salt (NaCl) is usually used as an ingredient due to its high purity, whereas the salts in water are derived from varying minerals. As an ingredient, "salt is added to enhance the flavour of cakes and breads and to ‘toughen up’ the soft mixture of fat and sugar." If relatively soft water is being used, more salt should be added in order to strengthen the gluten network of the dough, but if not enough salt is added during the baking process, the flavor of the bread will not be appealing to consumers.

### **Health effects**

Doughnuts are unhealthy, though some are less so than others. According to *Prevention Magazine*, doughnuts made from enriched flour provide some thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin, along with some fiber, but they are high in sugar and calories. Steps to improve the healthiness of doughnuts include removing trans fats.

### **Dough rheology**

An important property of the dough that affects the final product is the dough's rheology. This property measures the ability of the dough to flow. It can be represented by the power law equation: τ=k.D^n where τ is the tangentic stress, k is the viscosity coefficient, D is the shear rate, and n is the flow index. Many factors affect dough rheology including the type of ingredients, the amount of the ingredients, or the force applied during mixing. Dough is usually described as a viscoelastic material, meaning that its rheology depends on both the viscosity and the elasticity. The viscosity coefficient and the flow index are unique to the type of dough being analyzed, while the tangentic stress and the shear rate are measurements obtained depending on the type force being applied to the dough.

# Regional variations

### **South Africa**

In South Africa, an Afrikaans variation known as the *koeksister* is popular. Another variation, similar in name, is the Cape Malay *koesister* being soaked in a spiced syrup and coated in coconut. It has a texture similar to more traditional doughnuts as opposed to the Afrikaans variety. A further variation is the *vetkoek*, which is also dough deep fried in oil. It is served with mince, syrup, honey or jam.

### **Tunisia**

In Tunisia, traditional pastries similar to doughnuts are *yo-yos*. They come in different versions both as balls and in shape of doughnuts. They are deep-fried and covered in a honey syrup or a kind of frosting. Sesame seeds are also used for flavor and decoration along with orange juice and vanilla.

### **Morocco**

In Morocco, *Sfenj* is a similar pastry eaten sprinkled with sugar or soaked in honey.

### **China**

A few sweet, doughnut-style pastries are regional in nature. Cantonese cuisine features an oval-shaped pastry called *ngàuhleisōu* (牛脷酥, lit. "ox-tongue pastry", due to its tongue-like shape).

A spherical food called *saa1 jung* (沙翁), which is also similar to a cream puff but denser with a doughnut-like texture and usually prepared with sugar sprinkled on top, is normally available in dim sum Cantonese restaurants. An oilier Beijing variant of this called 高力豆沙, *gaoli dousha*, is filled with red bean paste; originally, it was made with egg white instead of dough. Many Chinese cultures make a chewy doughnut known as *shuangbaotai* (雙包胎), which consists of two conjoined balls of dough.

Chinese restaurants in the United States sometimes serve small fried pastries similar to doughnut holes with condensed milk as a sauce.

Chinese cuisine features long, deep-fried doughnut sticks that are often quite oily, hence their name in Mandarin, *yóutiáo* (油條, "oil strips"); in Cantonese, this doughnut-style pastry is called *yàuhjagwái* (油炸鬼, "ghosts fried in oil"). These pastries are not sweet and are often served with congee, a traditional rice porridge or soy milk.

### **India**

In India, an old-fashioned sweet called gulgula is made of sweetened, deep-fried flour balls. A leavening agent may or may not be used.

There are a couple of unrelated doughnut-shaped food items. A savory, fried, ring-shaped snack called a *vada* is often referred to as the Indian doughnut. The *vada* is made from *dal*, lentil or potato flours rather than wheat flour. In North India, it is in the form of a bulging disc called *dahi-vada*, and is soaked in curd, sprinkled with spices and sliced vegetables, and topped with a sweet and sour chutney. In South India, a vada is eaten with *sambar* and a coconut chutney.

Sweet pastries similar to old-fashioned doughnuts called *badushahi* and *jalebi* are also popular. *Balushahi*, also called *badushah*, is made from flour, deep fried in clarified butter, and dipped in sugar syrup. Unlike a doughnut, *balushahi* is dense. A *balushahi* is ring-shaped, but the well in the center does not go all the way through to form a hole typical of a doughnut. *Jalebi*, which is typically pretzel-shaped, is made by deep frying batter in oil and soaking it in sugar syrup. A variant of *jalebi*, called *imarti*, is shaped with a small ring in the center around which a geometric pattern is arranged.

Along with these Indian variants, typical varieties of doughnuts are also available from U.S. chains such as Krispy Kreme and Dunkin' Donuts retail outlets, as well as local brands such as Mad Over Donuts and the Donut Baker.

### **Indonesia**

The Indonesian, *donat kentang* is a potato doughnut, a ring-shaped fritter made from flour and mashed potatoes, coated in powder sugar or icing sugar.