There are few foods as classically American as the doughnut, but like so much of our national cuisine it came to us from foreign shores. Just who introduced it to America is a matter of some dispute. Some credit the Dutch. Washington Irving, for example, noted that Dutch settlers in New York always had fried, sweetened dough balls, called "dough nuts or oly koeks," on hand. Others claim the doughnut came to us with immigrants from Germany or Central Europe.
No matter how it got to us, the doughnut has become an American favorite, no doubt in large part because of how easy it is to make, carry and eat.
It isn't that hard to whip up a good batch of doughnuts: Mix together flour, eggs, milk and a leavening agent such as yeast or baking powder. After the ingredients are combined, roll and cut the resultant dough into orbs or rings. Drop the doughnuts in batches of two or three into oil heated to 370 degrees Fahrenheit. Using tongs, turn the doughnuts so that they fry evenly on both sides. When they become golden in color, they're finished. It's that simple!
Remember to drain the doughnuts on paper towels after frying. Likewise, pat them dry before icing to remove any excess fat still clinging to the surface. Consume them warm or within an hour or two after cooking.
Doughnuts may be divided into two basic categories: raised and cake. A raised doughnut gets its leavening from yeast and rises at least once before being fried. Once it hits the hot oil, the dough steams and puffs up, producing its customary airy consistency.
This type of doughnut appears not only in the usual ring form but also as twists, squares, jelly-filled rounds and creme-filled oblongs. It is often dusted with granulated sugar or glazed with chocolate, peanut butter or butterscotch.
Cake doughnuts, on the other hand, are leavened with baking powder instead of yeast. This accounts for the dough's denser, cake-like texture.
Cake dough, which is usually flavored with spices or chocolate, is chilled before being fried. Chilling stops the dough from absorbing too much fat and becoming an unappetizing, grease-laden blob.
"To hole or not to hole?" is the question faced by any doughnut maker. This is a conundrum that did not exist in the early days of the doughnut. Back then the confections were just that -- "nuts" or balls of dough, sans hole.
By the mid-19th century, ring doughnuts or doughnuts with holes had entered the culinary scene. Stories abound as to how this innovation came to be. The most popular attributes the doughnut hole to a Maine sea captain, Hanson Crockett Gregory.
Tired of the soggy centers in his mother's homemade doughnuts, the story goes, Gregory reputedly poked out the centers so that they would cook evenly. With this alteration Gregory believed he could store the finished doughnuts on the spokes of his ship's wheel, making them easier to access and eat while at sea.
No matter how they came to be, ring doughnuts became all the rage by the 1870s. Special double cutters were sold to create the perfect center opening. When those weren't available, bakers used two biscuit or cookie cutters, one 3 inches in diameter and the other 1 inch -- to cut out the excess dough. The extras were then fried, coated and eaten separately. We know them today as doughnut holes.
Other shapes and styles of doughnut have since taken hold in America. From Spain comes the sweet dough spiral known as the churro. Piped through a tube with a star-shaped nozzle, the ridged churro is fried until crunchy and then sprinkled with cinnamon-sugar.
Often paired with a thick hot chocolate, it appears on tapas menus and street carts throughout Latin America - and in American cities. Needless to say, it's a popular breakfast and mid-day sweet.
In France and other francophone regions such as Quebec and New Orleans, the rectangular beignet supplants the traditional doughnut. Blanketed with powdered sugar, this pillow of dough is offered hot around the clock, and with plenty of napkins.
Beignet dough must be prepared in advance and chilled overnight. Covered, it will keep for about a week in the refrigerator.
Whether indulging in a traditional jelly-filled or glazed chocolate or an exotic beignet or churro, a doughnut is the any time treat that's sure to please.
Churros
Makes 12 to 15 churros
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
No matter how it got to us, the doughnut has become an American favorite, no doubt in large part because of how easy it is to make, carry and eat.
It isn't that hard to whip up a good batch of doughnuts: Mix together flour, eggs, milk and a leavening agent such as yeast or baking powder. After the ingredients are combined, roll and cut the resultant dough into orbs or rings. Drop the doughnuts in batches of two or three into oil heated to 370 degrees Fahrenheit. Using tongs, turn the doughnuts so that they fry evenly on both sides. When they become golden in color, they're finished. It's that simple!
Remember to drain the doughnuts on paper towels after frying. Likewise, pat them dry before icing to remove any excess fat still clinging to the surface. Consume them warm or within an hour or two after cooking.
Doughnuts may be divided into two basic categories: raised and cake. A raised doughnut gets its leavening from yeast and rises at least once before being fried. Once it hits the hot oil, the dough steams and puffs up, producing its customary airy consistency.
This type of doughnut appears not only in the usual ring form but also as twists, squares, jelly-filled rounds and creme-filled oblongs. It is often dusted with granulated sugar or glazed with chocolate, peanut butter or butterscotch.
Cake doughnuts, on the other hand, are leavened with baking powder instead of yeast. This accounts for the dough's denser, cake-like texture.
Cake dough, which is usually flavored with spices or chocolate, is chilled before being fried. Chilling stops the dough from absorbing too much fat and becoming an unappetizing, grease-laden blob.
"To hole or not to hole?" is the question faced by any doughnut maker. This is a conundrum that did not exist in the early days of the doughnut. Back then the confections were just that -- "nuts" or balls of dough, sans hole.
By the mid-19th century, ring doughnuts or doughnuts with holes had entered the culinary scene. Stories abound as to how this innovation came to be. The most popular attributes the doughnut hole to a Maine sea captain, Hanson Crockett Gregory.
Tired of the soggy centers in his mother's homemade doughnuts, the story goes, Gregory reputedly poked out the centers so that they would cook evenly. With this alteration Gregory believed he could store the finished doughnuts on the spokes of his ship's wheel, making them easier to access and eat while at sea.
No matter how they came to be, ring doughnuts became all the rage by the 1870s. Special double cutters were sold to create the perfect center opening. When those weren't available, bakers used two biscuit or cookie cutters, one 3 inches in diameter and the other 1 inch -- to cut out the excess dough. The extras were then fried, coated and eaten separately. We know them today as doughnut holes.
Other shapes and styles of doughnut have since taken hold in America. From Spain comes the sweet dough spiral known as the churro. Piped through a tube with a star-shaped nozzle, the ridged churro is fried until crunchy and then sprinkled with cinnamon-sugar.
Often paired with a thick hot chocolate, it appears on tapas menus and street carts throughout Latin America - and in American cities. Needless to say, it's a popular breakfast and mid-day sweet.
In France and other francophone regions such as Quebec and New Orleans, the rectangular beignet supplants the traditional doughnut. Blanketed with powdered sugar, this pillow of dough is offered hot around the clock, and with plenty of napkins.
Beignet dough must be prepared in advance and chilled overnight. Covered, it will keep for about a week in the refrigerator.
Whether indulging in a traditional jelly-filled or glazed chocolate or an exotic beignet or churro, a doughnut is the any time treat that's sure to please.
Churros
Makes 12 to 15 churros
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
