A small, typically ring-shaped pastry that is usually leavened with yeast or baking powder, and which can be baked but is generally fried. The traditional doughnut shape is formed by using a special doughnut cutter that cuts out the center hole in the dough. It can also be made with two biscuit cutters, large and small (for the hole).

These sweet treats are easily made at home using basic ingredients and require no special equipment. Doughnuts are baked and sold on premises at small, privately run bakeries, grocery stores, and in franchise operations that offer a standard product through the use of a pre-packed mix and carefully-controlled production. Large commercial bakeries make thousands of dozens of doughnuts each day, packaging them for distribution across vast regions.

The doughnut supposedly came to us from the eighteenth century Dutch of New Amsterdam and were referred to as olykoeks, meaning oily cakes. In the nineteenth century, Elizabeth Gregory fried flavored dough with walnuts for her son Hanson Gregory, hence the name doughnut. By the late nineteenth century, the doughnut had a hole.
Doughnuts were a great favorite at lumbering camps of the Midwest and Northwest as they were easy to make and full of calories needed to provide quick energy for arduous logging jobs. "Doughboys" of World War I ate thousands of doughnuts served up by the Salvation Army on the French front. Soldiers reminisced that the doughnut was far more than a hot snack. The doughnut represented all the men were fighting for : the safety and comfort of mother, hearth, and home. Soon after the doughboys returned, dough-nut shops flourished.