But Like What Is A Donut?!

Everyone loves a donut, right? But what is the history of these rings of deliciousness that we love!

noun: donut

a small fried cake of sweetened dough, typically in the shape of a ball or ring.

The earliest known recipe for a donut was published in a German cookbook titled (translated) Mastery of the Kitchen in Nuremberg in 1485 displaying a recipe for "Gefüllte Krapfen" which was a sugar free, stuffed, fried dough cakes. (1.) Donuts (or doughnuts depending on where you are from) evolved and spread throughout the world in many forms and under many names and the terminology of a donuts depends on the region.

When Europeans immigrate to the United States they brought with them many of their delicacies from their counties including donuts and when the Dutch settles in Manhattan they introduced oily cakes or "olykoaks" and now more than 10 million donuts are consumed in the US alone! (1.)

Down the donut hole!

But with all of the information available about donuts and where they originated we still don't know the precise time and date. However, looking at when the donut hole was introduced can give us some more insight into this delicious treat.

Donut holes were added to the centre of the original shape to help cook better when egg yolks were added to the dough. Bakers were finding the donuts would still come out uncooked so the hole helped make sure the donut was cooked through. Some stories say that the donut hole was actually invented when a batch of oily cakes (which didn't originally have a hole) were sent off with a ship which was hit by large seas. As the captain navigating the store while eating a donut, he quickly had to grab the wheel with both hands, causing the oily cake to fall onto the steering wheel creating the hole. He liked this design better so instructed the chef to make them like this from now on. (2.)

Another story says that another captain made a hole in the donut with a pepper tin in 1916... But they both sounds like a tall tails to me. (3.)

2022 and Dr. Dough Donuts is delivering these delicious historical treats

After a unidentified and somewhat story driven history of the donut, Dr. Dough Donuts in 2022 has taken the modern donut, spiced it up and is delivering it straight to your door. Gone are the days of lining up at your local donut shop for a subpar donut. Dr. Dough is delivering creative, colourful, delicious and drool worthy donuts to your door.

A lot of people ask how Dr. Dough Donuts started and the answer is simple: an Instagram page featuring photos of delicious donuts that turned into a donut delivery business. 

Through our Instagram page we were able to connect with our audience and discover what they thought the best donut looked and tasted like. We slapped on our aprons and started designing and Dr. Dough Donuts was born creating delicious, kick ass donuts! And we’ve been doing that every single day for the last 6 years!!

The first donut we created was the 90’s Kid, bright pink and covered in Nerds! The 90’s Kid was our springboard into our creations and took off from there with a range inspired by growing up in the 90’s. Back then all prepared and dispatched from our ghost kitchen in Potts Point. (4.)

Citations:

1. https://germanyinusa.com/2019/04/30/doughnuts-a-german-creation-from-the-1400s/

2. https://acitgroup.com.au/who-invented-the-modern-doughnut/

3. https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/maine-ship-captain-invented-modern-donut/

4. https://drdoughdonuts.com/pages/about-us

Written by Tom Ragen.