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For me, it was quite the other way around. I never knew that there existed doughnuts without holes until I went to the UK a few years ago. And cream or jam fillings were unheard of! But I ascribed this culinary quirk to the well-known British dottiness (doughtiness?? nuttiness??). Now I see that it all goes much much deeper... :-)
FWIW, as far as Spanish people are concerned, if it ain't got a hole, it ain't a "donut"! A bun, maybe...
Marianna
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old hand
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old hand
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>A large doughnut will not be cooked in the middle if not punctured with the hole.
Curious. Doughnuts are a specialty of Rarotongan cooking, and no matter how large they get, they always seem to be cooked just fine without a hole in them. A meal of roast goat folllowed by some Raro doughnuts - oh to be in Oceania!
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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around 1975. "Ring" doughnuts didn't get to the UK until about 10 years after that...
erm, hate to tell you this my fishy friend, but I ate ring doughnuts from around 1967/8 in Maidstone, Kent -
... and I remember serving them (and eating them!) in my Dad's transport café in the late 1950s.
They were certainly commonplace in London by then - and I think they were popularised by American Servicemen either during or just after the 2nd World War.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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And we mustn't forget how popular donuts were made by that greta song, (from the late '40s, I think) "Do nut forsake me, Oh my Darling ..." [on second thoughts - maybe we should forget it . . . ] 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The spice in a doughnut dough is nutmeg. Arrrrgh! Now I want one!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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From a site about history of doughnuts, it is pointed out that doughnuts began with small batches of dough left over from making bread. The Pilgrims learned this is Holland, and brought the idea with them to Massachusetts. In 1847, a boy asked his mother to make rings, because he didn't like soggy centers. So, the ring doughnut was born. At first doughnuts were yeast raised, and cooked in hot fat. When fat became a dirty word, the cake doughnut was developed, the raising achieved with baking powder. Or both baking powder and yeast, as in Martha Stewart recipe. If you take one look at the recipe, you are almost certain to forget making your own. It's a lot of work. The one thing I couldn't find out is how commercial donuts have so little oil on them. http://makeashorterlink.com/?M35F14351 Wait a few seconds for it to work.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The one thing I couldn't find out is how commercial donuts have so little oil on them.
it has to do with the chemistry of frying.. the best (read least greasy/oily/fatiest) fried food are fried twice..
frying is a form of dry heat.. (just like baking) food should go into very hot fat to sear (seal the surface) then the temperture should be lowered to allow the food to cook with out burning..the searing heat of the first cooking seal the surface, and prevents oil from permeating the dough.
so first submerge the doughnuts in very hot oil (something the best doughnut resist, because they are air filled.) then remove and cook again in hot oil till they are done...
duel cooking -- is one of the sciences of cooking...
but KK's are especialy good because they are a very light yeast raised dough.
second note
The Pilgrims learned this is Holland, where they were living and learning skills. most were barred from membership in english guilds. the Mayflower brought over Master Knitter, and Master Weavers, and other Masters at guilded crafts. (i am interested in textiles, so i know these for sure.. it took six years of training to become a master knitter.) They did not bring gold smiths, because they said no need, but did bring silver smiths. all these masters had mastered their crafts in Holland, a country with more religious tolerence than england (especially to foriegners who were not planning on staying beyond there training.)
in the early 1650's there were informal agreements between New Amsterdam and the New england colonies, against the french and indians. Since the french were more interested in trading with the indians, and not in settling land, they often had better relationships. Connecticut's tail that juts into NY is an artifact of this.. the snip of land from stanford to greenwich was originaly part of NY, and traded to Connecticut as part of joint defence treaty.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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More on the etymology ...
From Take Our Word for It:
The earliest occurrence of the word is in the work of Washington Irving (1809). He had to define the word, so we can assume that it was not a widely known dish at the time, at least to his audience. And, interestingly, he defines doughnuts as "balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog's fat". This suggests that doughnuts were not named after knots or nuts and bolts, but instead after nuts like walnuts or pecans. They were balls of dough that, when fried to a deep golden brown, resembled nuts. Doughnuts only took their torus shape to overcome a problem inherent in balls of dough - uncooked centers. Removing the centers ensured that the doughnuts would be cooked throughout.
Similarly, from The Origin of Things:
Now for the origin of the word. In the early 1600s, the Pilgrims learned how to make olykoeks and gave them a new name...doughnuts. The new name came about because the little balls of dough looked like walnuts.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Everyone's discussing the why's and wherefore's of the large hole in the center of the doughnut...but did you ever pause to ponder the small hole in the side of a jelly or creme donut, and how it got there? Well I'll tell ya.... Having suffered a short tenure of a few month's employ at a South Jersey Dunkin' Donuts way back when, I learned a thing or too about the doughnut making process...for all the good it would do me later in life! Anyway, when the jelly donuts come down the line, you grab one in each hand, and there's a machine with two metal prongs extending from it...so you insert a prong into each donut and the jelly is squirted inside!  Make of it what you will!  and I know you will!
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addict
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And we mustn't forget how popular donuts were made by that greta song, (from the late '40s, I think)
"Do nut forsake me, Oh my Darling ..."
And don't forget that classic line from Raising Arizona: "You want to find your kid? Call me. You want to find a doughnut? Call a cop."
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