The first known buns originate from Ancient Greece, where they had already invented the empanada, and it seems that, by diluting the same dough in more water, they obtained a softer consistency that they baked and sweetened.
But the Romans were even more ingenious, and what they did was take a portion of dough and shape it with their hands before putting it in boiling water or frying in very hot oil.
But it is necessary to continue in time many centuries later to give shape to a bun that we know today as a donut. And it was thanks to the Dutch in the 16th century where they cooked an oil bun known as “olykoek” that was prepared with dough and sugar and then fried, typical of Christmas.
Like almost everything related to the colonists, the donut, at the beginning of the 17th century, crossed the Atlantic Ocean and reached the United States, where the English called it “dough nut” or nut paste. Needless to say, that dessert spread rapidly among the population and its success was immediate.
But what the bun didn’t have was the famous hole in the center. It was simply a round dough, similar in size and very sweet, but difficult to cook in the center, where it remained raw most of the time.
Until one day, Hanson Gregory, an American sailor who saw his mother preparing donuts back in 1847 and her complaints about the cooking problem, had the idea of making a hole in the center of the dough and using This made the donut evenly done on all sides and greatly improved its flavor.
More than two hundred years making the donut dough without a hole was too long. It was one more bun until it was able to identify it in this way. And, although the English want the credit for its creation, the truth is that in the state of Pennsylvania, the Dutch had already had this idea independently.
This is where the American saying comes from that “in America it is possible to achieve fame by inventing a hole”. So says the bronze plaque at the foot of the Hanson Gregory monument in Rockport, Maine, the sailor’s hometown.
In Spain there are antecedents of the donut in the fifteenth century, especially in Castilla and Catalonia, where a somewhat sweet fried dough with a hole in the center that was eaten hot and smeared with honey, was a delicacy for winter and that it was tradition to eat on the day of the dead.
In the book “Art of cooking, pastry, biscuits and canning “, From Francisco Martínez Montiño, Felipe II’s chief cook, several recipes are given that are explained in reference to fritters and all kinds of buns and frying pan fruit, some of which are almost identical to donuts. We could say that in SpainFor example, the Catholic Monarchs already tasted donuts, although under the Castilian name of bollos de hechura.
In Spain the Donuts brand was registered in 1962 by the company Panrico. After more than 50 years, and despite many attempts by competing brands as well as chefs and consumers on cooking blogs, no one has yet managed to match its flavor and texture.
You don’t have to be Homer Simpsons to rejoice at a well-made donut, and in America there are many bakeries that are dedicated to them, but in Texas, at Round Rock Donuts, you can even eat one the size of your face, and they prepare it for you. at the moment. Of course, there is usually a tremendous queue to be able to try its star delicacy.
The donut has its own day in the United States. On the first Friday of June each year, following a proposal by the Chicago Salvation Army in 1938, “Donut Day” is observed to honor its members who served donuts to soldiers during World War I.
Originally published at LaDamadeElche.com
