# Lefsa



## leethequeen (Mar 13, 2002)

Help! I tried to make potato lefsa that my Norwegian mother and grandmother used to make. Its a flat bread that is fried (with no oil). I never watched them make it so have no idea of the texture of the dough. Can anyone help me with some guidelines. The ones I made tended to be too thick and too hard, plus the dough seemed really wet and stuck to the rolling pin and pastry cloth. If I put enough flour down so that they didn't stick then the flour burned in the pan. I remember them as being fairly soft after they were cooked. We would then butter them, roll and eat, and if we had been very good, sprinkle sugar on them.


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## cape chef (Jul 31, 2000)

The first time I had lefse was about 20 years ago when a chef I worked for used to by his salmon from Norway.

My boss became friends with the two men who ran scandinavian seafood house, he would barder sometimes with them, you know a couple salmon for a few racks of lamb ETC.

One day one of the guys bought in some lefse for us to eat, I remember he told us to have it with some cheese. it was kind of crisp on the outside,but tender inside. I do recall the distict flavor of cardamom.

I know this doen't help, but I haven't thought about Le Chambord in years.
cc


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## islander (Feb 6, 2001)

Here is a recipe I have which may be of help to you:

2-1/2 lbs. (8 cups) russet potatoes, peeled and diced cooked in boiling salted water
1/4 lb. butter
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsps. salt
3 cups all-purpose flour, approximately

1. Drain potatoes thoroughly on paper towels. If not dry, return to pot and shake over moderate heat.
2. Put hot potatoes through a ricer or food mill in batches, or beat in a large heavy-duty mixer until fluffy. Do not use a food processor.
3. Beat in butter, cream, sugar, and salt until smooth. Press dough into a ball, cover and refrigerate overnight.
4. Just before baking, stir in flour to make a workable dough. Divide into 40 small balls.
5. Preheat a non-stick lefse griddle, frying pan, or pancake griddle to 400F.
6. Using a stockinette-covered pin, roll each ball of dough on a floured pastry cloth to a very thin 10" circle.
7. Carefully lift each lefse sheet from pastry cloth and cook on the hot griddle for about 1 minute, until flecked with brown. Turn and cook for 1 minute on other side. Stack with waxed paper between the cakes. Keep covered.
8. To serve as bread, spread each lefse with soft butter and fold into quarters or roll up. To serve as dessert, spread with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, roll up, and cut into 1" diagonal pieces. Makes 40 lefse.


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## kimmie (Mar 13, 2001)

I think there's a recipe in Baking with Julia. But your recipe sounds good, Islander! :lips:


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## kimmie (Mar 13, 2001)

Did you know that technically a flatbread, a lefse will look more like a crêpe to the uninitiated. It is a rich potato-based dough, a Norwegian specialty, rolled to crêpe thinness and baked on a griddle. Although lefse can be made successfully with the equipment found in most home kitchens, it has its own traditional _batterie de cuisine_. It is customarily rolled out on a slightly raised canvas round, a contraption that looks like an embroidery hoop fitted with fine white canvas. The pin is a grooved rolling pin, once only hand-carved by craftsmen for their favorite lefse makers, now commercially produced. And the finished lefse is lifted off its large round griddle with a lefse stick, a cross between a crêpe stick and a paint stirrer, which makes a fine substitute.

Lefse tastes the way it smells, profoundly soothing, like a buttered baked potato, and it can be served as either a sweet or a savory. Most often it is slathered with butter and sugar, cinnamon sugar, honey, or jam, but there are those who use lefse as a wrapper for small sausages or frankfurters. Experiment.

_Excerpted from Baking with Julia_

Source: Jacobs (612) 235-7594 (for lefse rolling pins and sticks)
Bethany Housewares (319) 547-5873 (carries lefse griddles and sticks)


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## shawtycat (Feb 6, 2002)

Hi,

I got this from a Norwegian lady.....it's her mother's recipe.

Mom's Norwegian Lefse

1/2 cup flour
2 cups mashed potatoes
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup brown sugar

Heat electric griddle to medium. In large bowl, add flour to mashed potatoes to form a stiff dough. Roll out as for pie crust on floured surface.

Sprinkle griddle with a little flour. Cook mashed potatoe mixture until lightly browned. Turn to cook other side. Spread butter over top. Sprinkle brown sugar on top. Roll up. Makes 2.

Jodi


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## jill reichow (Mar 12, 2001)

First off, you have to use dry pototoes to make lefse. My aunt routinly produces 200-300 every fall season. The drier the pototo the better it will be. Excess moisture in the potato cause you to add more flour which makes it tough and difficult to roll out. 

I don't have my recipe with me, but some of the secrets are to handle the potatoes gently. Make sure the mashed potatoes are cool when you make the recipe. Use a minimal amount of flour. I roll mine out of a pastry cloth. Al though I have the flatbread rolling pins (my daddy got them from the farmer that makes them in Newfolden MN during the winter.....paid $5 for them). I use the regular cloth covered rolling pin...helps prevent sticking. You have to roll them VERY THIN...mine tend to be thicker than I like also. Mostly I think it gets to be instinct and practice. Bake on a hot griddle and turn to finish baking. I don't put cardomon in mine. And my recipe calls for regular sugar, not brown.....

It makes a fine mess when you are making them. Good thing that they freeze well. Makes the effort worth while......

We eat our with butter and granular sugar(we're swedish). My norweigan friend eats hers with butter and brown sugar.....


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