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.