Doughnuts are a favorite for many Americans, and it is a part of many breakfasts. Some stores only sell doughnuts; thus, they get to focus on making the perfect blend to give you a sweet, refreshing snack that will give you the energy to get into your day.
You could want to make doughnuts at home if you have the recipe for it. Let us look into everything about doughnuts to understand their origin, how to make them perfectly, and some stories associated with them;
Do Doughnuts Have Dairy?
Doughnuts have dairy, and many recipes for different kinds of doughnuts have eggs and milk, so they are not the best for lactose intolerant individuals. You can get recipes for doughnuts without dairy or ask for them in doughnut shops since most of them offer a vegan option that doesn’t have milk.
Eggless Doughnut Recipe
- Warm a quarter cup of milk and add three tablespoons of sugar. Make sure the milk is warm and not hot; stir well to completely mix the sugar into the milk.
- Add two teaspoons of activated yeast to the milk and sugar mixture and stir gently for about 5 seconds. Make sure the milk is not hot since it will ruin the yeast. Keep the mixture aside, and after about 15 minutes, the yeast should be activated and swollen.
- Add 2 cups of all-purpose flour into a bowl, mix it with an eighth of a tablespoon of salt, and stir to get a uniform taste. Add the activated yeast to the flour and mix it as much as possible, then start adding a little water as you mix it with your hand to ensure its uniform.
- The dough will be messy but don’t worry; you are doing it right. Once the dough has a half cup of water, knead it for about 15 minutes to get it smooth and stop sticking to the table or bowl.
- After 10 minutes, add one tablespoon of salted butter and mix it well with the dough. Once done, put the dough in a bowl, apply some cooking oil on its surface and cover it with a lid for about an hour.
The yeast will lose too much water if you overdo it, making the dough unusable.
- Knead the dough for about 2 minutes, sprinkle some flour on the table and roll the dough using a rolling pin but don’t make the doughnuts too thin
- Once you have rolled the dough, use a doughnut cutter to make the shapes and take out the inner piece by hand. If you don’t have a doughnut cutter, you can improvise with lids of different sizes or cookie cutters of different sizes.
- Take a butter paper and put the doughnut on it to make it easier to cook. Brush the doughnut with some oil, then repeat the process with the rest of the doughnuts. You can reuse the dough to make more doughnuts until all the dough is done.
- Cover the doughnuts and leave them for about 15 minutes before frying them.
- Warm the cooking oil until it is hot at medium heat. Lift the doughnuts by the butter papers, take the paper over the oil, and gently ease the doughnut into the oil from the butter paper.
Don’t drop the butter paper in with the doughnut, and don’t dry to hold the doughnut directly since it will get stretched and damaged. Be gentle and careful when putting it in the oil, so you don’t splash the oil.
- Fry the doughnut until they become golden brown on both sides. If there is rapid browning, lower the flame since it will crisp the exterior of the doughnut without cooking the interior.
If you are unsure about the temperature, fry one doughnut and see how it cooks before frying the rest.
- After frying, it’s time to decorate the doughnuts. Melt some chocolate, then dip one side of a doughnut into it. You can also use granular sugar or organic sugar, in which case you will dip both sides of the doughnuts in it.
- Add some sprinkles on the doughnuts as you please, you could even use different types of sprinkles on the same doughnut if you want to, and once you do this, the doughnuts are ready for you to enjoy.
The chocolate will solidify and hold the sprinkles onto the doughnut so they don’t fall off when you eat it to give an amazing blend in your mouth.
The Origin Of Doughnuts
There isn’t a dessert quite like a well-made doughnut. People can’t seem to get enough all around the US, but have you ever stopped to think about who invented doughnuts, to begin with? Let us find out;
The invention of doughnuts goes as far back as the late 1700s when Dutch settlers were coming to America, and they called it Olykoek, which translates to the oily cake. When they settled in modern-day New York, they brought the recipe.
The Dutch doughnut was similar to the ones we eat today with one significant difference; they didn’t have a hole at the center. Not many people knew about doughnuts, but by the 1850s, doughnuts were a popular American food.
A man called Hansen Gregory came up with the idea of a doughnut hole. In 1847, Gregory didn’t like how greasy the doughnuts were and how they sometimes were raw in the middle.
While on the ship, he started punching holes through the dough, where the hole came in. A hole in the middle meant that the doughnut would get fired both inside and outside so none of it would be raw, and it would not hold too much oil; thus, it didn’t get greasy afterward.
From this point, doughnuts continued to grow in popularity, and in 1938, the US Government declared the 1st Friday of June national doughnut day. This day was a way to honor the non-combat participants that cooked and served free doughnuts to the 1st world war soldiers.
Doughnuts only got more popular from there, with more technology coming in and making the flavors better. There are doughnut machines that make dozens of doughnuts in an hour, and they sell as fast as they are made.
Many restaurants even have open kitchens, so you can look at your doughnut as it comes from dough to deliciousness. This is a snack you can take for breakfast or in the middle of the day, and it is a big part of American food culture.
Why Are Doughnuts Associated With Cops?
You must have heard a joke about cops and doughnuts at some point, but you could not relate and understand what it means. This is a common stereotype about police that is used in many movies and cartoons so let us see where it came from;
Before the mid-19th century, the police force relied on citizen volunteers, watch groups, and other systems that were not under government management. The police forces we know today were properly formed a decade after the 2nd World War.
Back then, when police officers needed a break from tiresome night shifts, they went to doughnut shops. Doughnut shops were the cheapest food sources open all night since they needed to be ready for customers going to work early in the morning.
The officers went to the shops for the cheap yet tasty food they could eat on the go if an emergency came up, and civilians called them to help. Unlike most foods, you can leave doughnuts on the seat for a few hours and eat them.
Doughnut shops were also a good place to get a warm coffee while working. The shops have tables which the police could use to fill out paperwork and work as they eat, so they don’t waste too much time.
Most doughnut shops offered clean restrooms; thus, the officers went in for quick bathroom breaks before returning to duty. Cops have become associated with doughnuts mostly because of American movies stereotyping it and their popularity around the globe.
While the stereotype is not true today, it took root in American culture, and you will hear people mention it now and then. It is curious to know that police in other countries are associated with different foods.
For instance, in Bulgaria, cops are associated with Kebabs since those are the most common fast food places open for 24 hours. Most police forces need a reliable source of food to boost as they work night shifts; thus, it is a common joke.
Conclusion
Most doughnuts have milk, but you can ask for vegan doughnuts in most places and get what you want. There are recipes online that don’t include eggs or milk, so you can get them and make your doughnuts at home the way you want them.
Doughnuts are a significant part of American food culture, and many people eat them every day. There are stereotypes about police and them loving doughnuts, but an old story came from using doughnut houses to get refreshments and rest during night shifts.
