In Germany there is a tradition of Pfankuchen, yeast raised dough pieces which are deep fried.
The actual term doughnut is believed to have been first written by Washington Irving in his 1809 A History of New York. He described balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog’s fat and called doughnuts.
Originally, doughnuts were not ring shaped or topped with frosting and sprinkles. The hole invention is generally attributed to Captain Hanson Crockett Gregory, a Dutch sailor whose mother Elizabeth Gregory made him some doughnuts for a voyage. Elizabeth was well known for her olykoeks. Olykoeks are small balls of dough fried in pork fat and stuffed with either hazelnuts or walnuts. People who didn’t speak Dutch called them “doughnuts.”
Before he began a long voyage, Elizabeth would provide her son with a large supply of olykoeks. She also gave a copy of her recipe to the ship’s cook so that he could make more for Captain Gregory and his crew.
One popular legend recount that Captain Gregory invented the doughnut during a terrible storm at sea in 1847. Captain Gregory was eating a doughnut when he was desperately needed at the ship’s helm. He took the doughnut and jammed it through the steering wheel spoke, giving him the free hands, he needed.
Therefore, creating the first doughnuts with holes. Another version of the story indicates that Hanson Gregory simply didn’t like the nuts and poked them out of the cakes before eating them.
Captain Gregory improved the doughnut. However, it wasn’t until World War I that doughnuts became an American passion.
History of doughnut
