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Revision as of 19:26, 2 May 2003 by Ericross (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)A doughnut, or donut, is a deep-fried piece of dough or batter. The two most common shapes are the flattened sphere, which is injected with jam/jelly or another sweet filling; and the ring, which was traditionally formed by wrapping the dough around a stick.
Doughnuts can be made using a yeast-based bread dough, or a special type of cake batter. Cake doughnuts are generally iced with a brightly coloured glace icing designed to appeal to children. Some doughnuts are dredged in cinnamon sugar and eaten hot, while others are filled with jam or custard, briefly soaked in a sugary flavoured solution, or glazed.
Donuts have become a part of western culture. The cartoon character Homer Simpson is especially fond of doughnuts, while popular mythology has American police officers addicted to them. There are entire chains of retail stores devoted to the selling of hot fresh doughnuts to eager customers, eg. Dunkin' Donuts, Krispy Kreme, Winchell's Donuts, and many other chain stores.
Other sweet fried pastries very similar to doughnuts include churros and fritters.
Doughnuts have a controversial history.
Did they come from the Isle Of Wight in the UK?
Were they imported into the USA by Dutch Settlers?
In France they are called Beignets.
In Germany thay are called Bismarks or Berliners (German doughnuts are sometimes called Berlin Doughnuts in the USA, and John F. Kennedy once famously said "Ich bin ein Berliner" which amused some Germans because he was evidently not attempting to claim that he was a jelly doughnut).
In the Hudson Valley (which includes the Catskill Mountains) a doughnut is called called an 'olicook' which derives from the Dutch 'Oliekoeke' or 'oil cake'.
The Dutch themselves refer to doughnuts as 'oliebollen' (oil balls).
Doughnuts, as ring shaped items, are an important explanatory tool in the science of topology where the ring donut shape (a ring with a circular cross section) is called a or toroid.