Lefse


Every fall, lefse appears in local grocery stores and craft fairs.  For those unfamiliar, lefse is a Norwegian flatbread (similar to a tortilla) made with a mix of flour and potatoes. 

It is delicious.

It also typically requires specialized equipment: a potato ricer, a corrugated lefse rolling pin and a lefse griddle…Ugh.


I should back up and mention that I grew up in an area that can trace their roots back predominantly to Native American, German, or Norwegian ancestry.  I come from German roots and therefore have an appreciation for lesfe (so delicious), but never learned to make lefse, nor do I have to the tools.  And it’s difficult to invest in that many tools to “attempt” to make something I like.


So I searched around to see if there was a shortcut and sure enough!  Potato ricer?  Push the potato through a metal colander (yes, a ricer would take significantly less effort), special rolling pin (nope, use the regular one), lefse griddle (dry skillet, like I use for tortillas) and that’s that!  One can indeed make lefse without specialized tools (but admittedly, with some extra effort).

We did a side -by-side comparison with the lefse purchased at the craft fair and it was unanimous – fresh was infinitely tastier!  This is a recipe that will definitely show up time and time again on my table!


Recipe Note:
I used red potatoes in this recipe, however, russets are traditional.

Lefse (Norwegian Flatbread)
Adapted from Cheap Recipe Blog

1 pound potatoes, peeled and diced
½ cup heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups all purpose flour


Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil.  Add the potatoes and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes.

Drain the potatoes and pour into a bowl.  Add the cream, butter, and salt.  If you have one, send the potatoes through a potato ricer and mix.  Otherwise, mash until smooth.  Since it is difficult to get potatoes completely smooth, I like to pour my mostly smooth potato mixture into a metal colander and then push the chunks through with the back of a metal spoon.

Place the mashed potatoes in the refrigerator to cool for about 30 minutes.

Add 1 cup of flour to the cooled potatoes, stirring until completely mixed in.  Add additional flour, ¼ cup at a time, until the dough is malleable but not sticky.

Divide the dough in 2 ounce pieces (If you have a lefse griddle, you can use a larger amount of dough). 

On a liberally floured work surface, roll each piece of dough into a circle, as thinly as possible.

Meanwhile, heat a dry skillet over medium heat.

Transfer lefse rounds to the skillet and cook until browned, about 30-60 seconds, flip and cook and additional 30-45 seconds until the other side is browned as well.  Transfer to a towel-lined plate to cool.

 Repeat until all of the lefse if cooked.

To serve, butter a lefse round and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.  Roll up and enjoy.


Comments

  1. Lefse is the best! I grew up in a small town in Minnesota that was founded by a small group of immigrants from Norway (my great great grandpa being one of them). We celebrated Norwegian holidays and ate many traditional Norwegian foods, like lefse. My grandpa sends me some every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We always ate ours with butter and plain sugar. But I know of people who do brown sugar or some who do cinnamon sugar.

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