Perfect Lefse
I didn’t have any problem rolling the lefse on a heavily floured work surface, but if you do, try rolling them on a heavily floured tea towel wrapped over a large cutting board.
by: Three Many Cooks
Serves: Makes 2 dozen
Ingredients
- 3 pounds medium russet or golden potatoes
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- Butter, cinnamon sugar, fried bacon and scrambled eggs for rolling
Instructions
- Bring potatoes to boil in a covered Dutch oven or soup kettle. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, until tender, 30 to 35 minutes. Drain, peel, and mash the hot potatoes, flavoring them with the butter, cream, and salt. (To peel hot potatoes, hold them with a potholder and use a knife. If using a ricer or food mill, no need to peel them) Cool mashed potatoes to room temperature. (Can cover and refrigerate up to 3 days; return to room temperature.)
- When ready to make lefse, stir flour into potato mixture to form smooth stiff dough; divide into scant ¼-cup portions and cover with plastic wrap.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Stack 2 damp tea towels nearby. On a heavily floured work surface roll a portion of dough into an approximate 10-inch round, flipping and flouring the dough as you roll and re-flouring the surface to prevent dough from sticking. Drop rolled dough into hot skillet; cook until light spotty brown on bottom side and top side has lost its raw look, 1 to 1½ minutes. Place lefse between towels, stacking them as they've cooked. Repeat with remaining dough, rolling one out as another cooks—a rhythm will develop as you work. (Lefse can be cooled to room temperature and stored in zipper-lock freezer bags up to 1 month.)
- When ready to serve, set out butter, sugar, and cooked bacon. Heat a skillet (or griddle if serving a crowd) over strong medium. Working one at a time warm lefse quickly, passing them around as they are ready. Serve, letting each person roll up with bacon or scrambled eggs or spread with butter, sprinkle with sugar, and roll.
i love lefse, i tried to make it once with my mom and i was horrible at the griddle part. we have a special lefse griddle too. thanks for the recipe! maybe i will try again.
Lefse reminds me of my mother who used to make them for holidays and her recipe’s been handed down to us. I who cook very little have actually made them. I’m eager to compare the two recipes.
Hello Pam,
Yours and my friend Donna from Bradenton sent me this blog since my husband is Norwegian ancestry. I received a lefse griddle many years ago from my mother-in-law who still makes lefse at 94! It’s too perfect….no holes like mine, but it still tastes the same. I hope our 3 daughters will continue the tradition someday!
Mmmmmm. Looking at the lefse makes me want to make a batch this weekend. Did you figure the calories per?
OK. You’ve convinced me, I’m going to try to make my family’s holiday traditional breakfast, lefse, one more time! You make it seem easy. I’ll let you know if I’m successful.
Melissa, I don’t know calorie counts, but I don’t think it’s much compared to what you stuff in them: )
Barbara, if you’re making lefse today, I’m cerain your daughters will carry on the tradition.
Jeanne, give it another try. You can do it, but if not, remember there’s always mail-order lefse.
Just curious….why don’t you peel the potatoes before you cook them?
Jacqui,
The potato peel holds in flavor (and if you don’t believe me compare the cooking water from peeled and un-peeled potatoes). The peel also keeps the water out, and a drier potato is easier to work with!
Good luck.
The entire Grassmick family is coming next week so last night Jonathan and I made a double batch of lefse! I made it with your recipe and it was super easy to roll. We make smaller lefse…about 5 or 6 inches in diameter so we rolled out about 80 last night. We were up until midnight. But the griddle is what slowed us down. We should have gotten out the other electric skillet we have. Anyway, the dough was great to work with! Thanks Aunt Pam.
Can you make the dough in advance, roll it out into discs, stack them and put them in the fridge for the next evening?
The lefse are pretty fragile in that raw, rolled state, but you can completely make them ahead, refrigerate or freeze them and simply heat them back up on a hot, dry griddle.
I make lefse. Took years for me to learn the task, my Grandmother made it when we were kids. I have never eaten it with anything but butter and sugar and rolled up. We ate it like bread with meals. Grandma always wrapped it three lefse rounds per package, not sure why. Went through quite a few recipes before I landed on one that works for me. 5# red potatoes, 1/2 cup cream, 1 cup butter. Mash potatoes with cream and butter. Cool overnight, rice potatoes add up to 2 cups of flour — differs with humidity. Roll and fry on lefse grill — place between damp towels until cool. Refrigerate or freeze.
We wrap lefse around cut up cold meatballs from Christmas dinner. Norwegian meatballs. Yum. My dad thought it blasphemy to put cinnamon sugar on them. I guess his parents, born in the 1890s, didn’t have a taste for that. I associate lefse with soft butter or soft butter with yummy meatballs. Mmmm.
I’m planning to test your recipe. My grandmother’s recipe says “add flour until right stiffness”. Great.
I like the idea of boiling the potatoes with skin on and letting the ricer do the work of removing the peel. Even if some gets in to the riced potatoes, it will look pretty.
Pam,
Hey, I used your recipe for Banoffy Pie. It is delicious. Oh my gosh. Your recipe is so wonderful. How many ways can I say this? Thank you so much, as it turns out I needed a recipe in a pinch and made your pie so quickly. I am trilled over your book . What a fabulous book of recipes. They all come out so perfect. And absolutely wonderful.
Your High School Friend,
Constance Marie Roberson