Donuts
Why Do Donuts Have Holes? The Real Reason Is Not the Famous Story
22 September 2026 · 5 min read
The short answer is physics, not folklore. A solid ball of dough cooks from the outside in — by the time the middle is done, the outside is too dark. Take the middle out and the whole thing cooks through at once.
What is actually happening in the fryer
Hot oil cooks by contact. It works on the surface of the dough and the heat travels inwards from there, slowly, because dough is a poor conductor.
So with a solid round of dough you have a problem you cannot fix by adjusting the temperature:
- Hotter oil — the outside darkens faster and the middle is still raw.
- Cooler oil — the centre gets there eventually, but the donut sits in the oil far longer and soaks it up. Greasy.
The hole solves it by geometry. Removing the middle gives you more surface area and less distance from any surface to the centre. Everything cooks at the same rate, the outside is right when the inside is right, and the donut comes out in the ninety seconds or so it should.
That is the whole reason. Everything else is a good story.
The good story, and why we are careful with it
The version most people have heard credits Captain Hanson Gregory, an American ship captain, who is said to have punched the centre out of his mother's fried cakes in 1847 — depending on the telling, because the middles were never cooked through, or so they could be stacked on a spoke at the ship's wheel.
It is a great story. It is also disputed. There are several competing accounts of where the ring shape came from, and older recipes already used ring-shaped fried dough. Gregory is commonly credited rather than definitively established.
We are telling you that rather than repeating it as fact because the cooking explanation is solid and the history is not, and it seems worth being clear about which is which.
Why some of our donuts have no hole at all
Once you understand the hole, the rest of the board explains itself.
| Shape | Why | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Ring | Even cooking, maximum crisp edge | Glazed, old fashioned |
| Solid round | The hole is where the filling goes | Bismark, Bavarian cream |
| Bar | Long and flat cooks evenly too, and holds icing | Long John, buttermilk bar |
| Twisted | Ridges expose more surface; folds stay soft | Cinnamon twist |
| Large and flat | Wide and shallow, so the middle still cooks | Persian |
| Small sphere | Small enough that depth is not a problem | Donut holes |
The filled ones are the interesting case. A Bismark is fried as a solid round with no hole, which is exactly the situation the ring was invented to avoid — so it has to be fried more carefully, at the right temperature, for longer. Then the filling goes into the space where a hole would have been.
What the hole does to the eating
It changes the ratio. More surface area means more crisp fried edge relative to soft interior — and the edge is where most of the flavour of a fried food lives.
It is why an old fashioned, with its craggy cracked surface, tastes more of itself than a smooth one does. More edge, more browning, more to taste. The shape is not decoration; it is a decision about texture.
And the donut holes themselves
Sometimes they genuinely are the cut-out middles. Sometimes they are made on purpose, because demand outran the supply of offcuts a long time ago. Either way it is the same dough and the same fryer.
We make them. Ask at the counter — they go quickly, like everything else does, because we bake to the morning.
All three shops are frying from 5:00am, Monday through Saturday: Spanish Fork (801) 416-0800 · Ogden (385) 865-1029 · St. George (435) 628-9290. Everything is on the menu and in the Utah Donut Index, and if you are wondering how long any of it keeps, that is here.
Common questions
Why do donuts have holes?
So they cook evenly. A solid ball of dough fries from the outside in, which means the outside is dark by the time the centre is done. Taking the middle out gives you more surface and less depth, so the whole thing cooks through at the same rate.
Who invented the donut hole?
The story usually told credits Captain Hanson Gregory, an American ship captain, in 1847. It is worth knowing that this account is disputed — there are several competing origin stories and the attribution is not settled. What is not disputed is why the hole works, which is the cooking.
Why do filled donuts not have holes?
Because the hole is where the filling goes. A Bismark or a Bavarian cream is fried as a solid round and injected afterwards. They are fried differently and more carefully for exactly the reason above — no hole means the heat has further to travel.
Are donut holes made from the cut-out middles?
Sometimes, and sometimes they are made on purpose as their own thing. Either way they are the same dough. We make them — ask at the counter.
Why are some donuts bars instead of rings?
Same principle, different shape. A Long John is long and flat rather than round and deep, which gives it the same even cooking a ring gives you. A bar shape also holds icing and filling better than a ring does.
Does the hole change how a donut tastes?
Not directly, but it changes the texture, which is most of the experience. More surface means more of the crisp fried edge relative to soft interior. A ring donut is a crust-to-crumb ratio decision as much as a shape.