I’m just curious… is the root of the words donut ‘dough-naught’ as in a circle (Naught in British English) and dough?
Or is it more of a ‘do-nothing’ the treat for one who has done naught?
Anyone have any insight on this?
Remember that doughnuts originally didn’t have a hole. The deriviation, I believe, is from the fact that they were made out of dough, and about the size and shape of a nut.
According to some sources, the doughnut hole was invented by Captain Hanson Gregory in 1847.
A dougnut is a round slab of dough that is fried and eaten, often with sugar.
An apprentice doughnut maker (I believe the master’s son) noticed that it was necessary to watch the cooking closely in order to completely cook the inside without burning the outside. There’s only a little leeway between overdone and done, and you can only completely cook a small doughnut.
Try it yourself - this is even evident in non-immersive frying like pancakes (flapjacks). The heat is on high and the whole process of cooking is done faster than with baking or other low-level heating. The insides of an object in a high-temperature situation recieve the heat after the outsides, and while the insides are cooking, the outsides are already done and are going to burn.
Thus, the donut was made - a hole scooped out of the middle made sure that everything was cooked, and ensured that you didn’t have to watch the batch quite so closely. TYhis meant that you could cook dozens and dozens at a time, making industrialization of the process easier.
Buying doughnuts in America with a hole in them means you are buying from a liar/uninformed person. If it’s in a box and has a hole, it’s a donut. If it’s in a bag and it has a hole, it’s a donut. If it’s alone and has a hole, it’s a donut. IUf you go to the corner bakery and buy a bag and they don’t have holes, you are buying something lovingly watched over.
Note : both doughnuts and donuts are extrteemmly fatty, especialyl if they haven['t been drained like Dunkin Donuts have.