Calling all Norwegians!

I’ve come to recognize that every family has weird traditions. My family eats Lefse during the holidays. Its pronounced: Lef-sah. It is a norweigan flat bread made from potatoes. Lefse is like a scandinavian tortilla, although we smothered it with butter and sugar. I suppose you could put other things on lefse (cinnamon, fruit spread, apple butter), but we just stick to the staples.

The lefse making process is a bit complicated. I became involved when my grandma “D” began needing help rolling out dough. This is when I realized her lefse grill was about to catch the house on fire. The grill needs to reach 500 degrees and I became concerned when I found the electrical cord was exposed and sparked when it was plugged in. My grandma demonstrated how to “jiggle” the cord to ensure the connection. Uff-dah!

As you can imagine, at this time I began an internet search for a new lefse grill for my grandma. ( I mean, we still wanted her to make lefse, we just wanted her to do it safely So, after much insecurity (2 years to be exact) about using a NEW lefse grill, I think I’ve finally convinced my g’ma that we can pitch the old one.

Here is a picture of the “new” grill:

As you can see, its really not so “new”, but compared to the old one, we’ve come miles. My G’ma says that you could make lefse on any electric skillet, but it has to reach at least 450 degrees, 500 is ideal. Most commercial skillets only go to about 400.

Begin the night before with boiling and mashing 3 cups of russet potatoes. (we made a quadruple batch and used a little over 12 good size potatoes) Do NOT add anything to the potatoes (milk or butter). I wish you could make lefse from leftovers, but the milk causes them to fall apart. Keep them covered in the refrigerator overnight.

When you are ready the next day. Add to the potatoes:
3 T. melted butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. sugar
1/2 t. baking powder

The flour amount is a bit subjective. I usually use more. Now pre-heat the grill to 475 or 500. Roll the dough into balls about the size of a raquetball. If the sections of dough are too big, you won’t be able to manage it when its rolled out. Keep the balls covered until you roll them to keep them moist. (This is key to good lefse)

Now place the ball on a floured surface and roll out with a floured rolling pin. Being a perfect circle is not important.

Now you must transport this to the lefse grill. My G’ma uses a stick, which I believe is used soley for lefse. You can purchase these here, but I think they would be easy to make. My G’ma’s is homemade.
Begin by inserting the stick under the dough in the middle of the circle. The stick needs to go the entire diameter of the circle. Simply lift, having equal dought weight on either side.

Place one side of the dough on the lefse grill and then roll the stick until the dough is flat.

Grill each side for about 3 minutes. Brown spots will show up, and these are great as long as they don’t burn. Simply turn the dough over using the same method as transfering.

Keep fresh lefse warm and moist in a damp tea towel. These are best served fresh and warm, but they are also delicious cold. They can be frozen for a couple months easily and pulled out in a moment’s notice.

Spread butter and sugar on one side, then roll the lefse like a fruit roll up and enjoy! I couldn’t snap a nice looking picture, but I found some yummy ones here, here, and here. (Apparently, the real norwegians put lots of things in lefse. I’m going to have to do some experimenting…)