The brutal war and sweet patriotism that led to National Doughnut Day

A century ago, not long after the United States entered World War I, the Salvation Army deployed hundreds of volunteers to France to soothe and bolster American troops.

The men were homesick. They were hungry. They wanted a slice of apple pie.

But that, of course, was impossible. The many indignities of war include this undeniable one: A fox hole is a terrible place to bake.

So the Salvation Army troops improvised, frying dough in soldier helmets, producing such delicious doughnuts that when the war was over, when the troops finally came home, the government produced a guide for veterans to open doughnut shops.

This is how the doughnut came to America. This is what led to National Doughnut Day. This is why the line at Dunkin’ Donuts was extra long on a recent Friday morning — free doughnuts, not as a marketing ploy (well, maybe a little), but to remember the sacrifices those men made and the Salvation Army volunteers who comforted them.

They called those volunteers, mostly women, “Doughnut Lassies.”

“As they dipped doughnuts for their boys, they dispensed motherhood,” John T. Edge wrote in “Donuts: An American Passion,” a seminal volume in the genre of historic deliciousness.

The Salvation Army Donut Lassie 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.