Why do doughnuts have holes?

Subject: Why do doughnuts have holes? Wed Feb 25 2009, 18:59

The question
as to why doughnuts have holes has been raised by dozens of bakers over
the years, but most agree that the answer to this sticky question lies
in the fact that the interior of these fried cakes would not cook fully
without a hole in the center. In short, the consistency of a doughnut
lacking a hole would be, quite simply, doughy.

Another
riveting theory as to the origin of the bulls eye in the doughnut holds
that a sea captain named Hanson Gregory, while manning his post one
stormy night, found it impossible both to steer his vessel and to eat
his fried cake. Out of sheer frustration, and probably out of hunger,
he impaled his cake over one of the spokes of the ship's wheel, thereby
creating a finger hold with which to grip the cake. Quite pleased with
his ingenuity, Mr. Gregory ordered the galley's cook to fry the cakes
in that manner henceforth.

Whatever the reason
for the hole in the doughnut, this fried cake, with or without a hole,
has been incorporated into the diets of people throughout the world for
centuries. In fact, archaeologists found petrified fried cakes with
holes amongst the artifacts of a primitive Indian tribe.

Many credit Dutch settlers to America with introducing the non-holed olykoeks, or "oily cakes," to this continent, and with their subsequent popularity.

There is no disputing
the fact that the fried cake became the rage in New York and in New
England, and that before long, it became the specialty of coffee shops.
Fried cakes came into their own in 1673, when a self-made New York
marketing guru, Anna Joralemon, made their purchase at the market
possible. To this day, doughnuts, in any shape or form, remain married in our minds to coffee and police officers, and are here to stay.
Source: coolquiz.com