History of National Donut Day and the Original Doughboy Donut Recipe #nationaldonutday

{EAV:59e04445f2935abd} Happy National Donut Day today!! June 7 is the 76th National Donut Day! This delicious holiday is a chance for us to remember the Salvation Army "Donut Lassies" who made and served donuts and coffee to the soldiers fighting on the frontlines of WWI.

Did you know that the iconic Salvation Army Donut Girl is based off a real person? 

Her name was Stella Mae Young.



The idea for Donut Day began on the battlefields of France during World War I when Salvation Army workers served coffee and doughnuts to soldiers in the trenches. Rations were poor so the doughnut idea was conceived as a means of bringing the soldiers cheer. Doughnuts were not the reason Salvation Army workers were in the fighting zones of France. Those men and women were there primarily to give spiritual aid and comfort to the American soldier and his allies. They were there to be a link with home and family. 

credit to : http://www.salarmychicago.org/donutday/donutDayHistory.htm

75th Annual National Donut Day Fun Facts:

Salvation Army:

• The Salvation Army started National Donut Day during the Great Depression as a way to raise funds and bring awareness to The Salvation Army’s social service programs.
•  National Donut Day commemorates the “donut lassies,” female Salvation Army volunteers who provided writing supplies, stamps, clothes-mending and home-cooked meals, and of course, donuts, for soldiers on the front lines.
•  Approximately 250 Salvation Army volunteers provided assistance to American soldiers in France starting in 1917 during WWI.
•  With limited resources, these treats were fried, only seven at a time. The Salvation Army’s Ensign Margaret Sheldon and Adjutant Helen Purviance cleverly thought of frying donuts in soldiers’ helmets.
•  Last year, 30 million Americans received assistance from The Salvation Army’s 3,600 officers, 60,000 employees and 3.4 million volunteers.

Entenmann’s Bakery:

• Entenmann’s has made more than 4 billion donuts – if you laid them end-to-end, you could wrap them around the earth almost 9 times!
•  The Rich Frosted Donut has been the #1 seller since its introduction in 1972. (2012 marks the 40-Year Anniversary – that’s a sweet celebration.)
• Entenmann’s Donut Facility in Carlisle,Pennsylvania Is the largest Donut Plant in the United States, producing more than 40 million boxes of yummy delight each year.
•  Believing that people were more inclined to buy what they can see, the Entenmann’s brothers, William, Robert and Charles, and mother, Martha, invented the familiar “see-through” cake box for baked goods in 1959.
•  At one time, more than 168 million pounds of chocolate have been used for Entenmann’s Rich Frosted Donuts, enough to fill all of the Great Lakes.
• In the early ’50s, Frank Sinatra used to call the Bay Shore bakery to place weekly orders from Entenmann’s.

The Original Doughboy Donut Recipe

Yield: 4 doz. doughnuts

• 5 C flour
• 2 C sugar
• 5 tsp. baking powder
• 1 ‘saltspoon’ salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 C milk
• 1 Tub lard

DIRECTIONS

• Combine all ingredients (except for lard) to make dough.

• Thoroughly knead dough, roll smooth, and cut into rings that are less than 1/4 inch thick. (When finding items to cut out doughnut circles, be creative! Salvation Army doughnut girls used whatever they could find, from baking powder cans to coffee percolator tubes.)

• Drop the rings into the lard, making sure the fat is hot enough to brown the doughnuts gradually. Turn the doughnuts slowly several times.

• When browned, remove doughnuts and allow excess fat to drip off.

• Dust with powdered sugar. Let cool and enjoy.

Enjoy a Donut today and teach your kiddos how they actually started!