The origin of the doughnut, a simple fried dough, can be traced back to the Middle East, but the practice spread to Europe and the United States where it became immensely popular.
Americans modified the recipe according to their own taste preferences and made it into a hollow shape, which is said to prevent the dough inside the case from being trapped, thus saving fuel and shortening the frying time. It should be emphasized that the shape of the doughnut is not limited to being hollow and can take any shape. Doughnuts can also be filled with custard, jam, red bean paste, or other sweet fillings and fried.
Although doughnuts are a form of fast food, often consumed for breakfast, they are loved and popular in Europe and the United States, especially the big cake doughnut. In Asia, while people also love doughnuts, they are more often considered a dessert.
The difference between doughnut dough and ordinary bread dough lies in three key points:
1. Cooking method: Ordinary bread is made by "baking," while doughnuts are made by "frying," which makes them a type of fried bread.
2. Ratio of dough ingredients: The classic American doughnut is heavy on sugar and oil, making it full of custard and giving it a typical American taste. The recipe for doughnuts usually includes more butter, sugar, and eggs than ordinary bread, which gives them a sweeter and softer taste and texture.
3. Dough ductility: Bread dough can be divided into two stages, the extended stage and the fully extended stage. Different bread doughs have different ductility requirements.
Toast bread requires the dough to reach the fully extended stage. Ordinary plastic bread only requires the dough to reach the extended stage, where it can be pulled into a thick film state. However, doughnuts do not have strict requirements for dough ductility, and the dough only needs to be smooth.
Therefore, a doughnut is not only a circle-shaped fried bread, and it can be called by different names. It has a more sweet and rich flavor than ordinary bread.
However, the fate of the doughnut was not always smooth. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Bagel became popular in the United States. It was similar to a doughnut but was baked instead of fried, making it a less sinful option. As living standards improved and people became more health-conscious, bagels gradually replaced doughnuts as the main choice for breakfast.
But the original desire for high-calorie foods has always been rooted in human nature. The wave of rapid development has given rise to a society of universal anxiety, and doughnuts are undoubtedly one of the most soothing foods.
As a result, doughnuts have made a quiet comeback in the 21st century. In 2013, Cronuts (croissant + doughnut) appeared on the scene, bringing another wave of the doughnut craze. Dominique Ansel Bakery in New York was the first to launch this dessert, which reportedly took three days to prepare and retailed for $5, limited to 300 per day.
The price was once speculated by scalpers to be as high as $100 due to the difficulty in finding a "ring." A large amount of flaky butter and crust is stacked into a thousand layers of pastry, deep-fried in a pan, rolled with sugar, filled with filling, and then coated with a drizzle. This high-calorie carnival of a doughnut has become quite popular.
