Norwegian Potato Lefsa Recipes

NORWEGIAN POTATO FLATBREAD (LEFSE)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line an oven-safe skillet or baking pan with aluminum foil.
• Poke the potato skin all over with a knife and place on the prepared pan.
• Roast in the preheated oven until very tender and easily pierced with a knife, about 1 hour. Let sit until cool enough to handle but still very warm.
• Scoop potato flesh out into a bowl. Mash smooth with the back of a spatula until there are no lumps left. You can also use a potato ricer. Add the butter and mix until it disappears. Add the salt, sugar, and cream; mix until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.
• Mix in flour in several additions until the dough is able to be kneaded by hand. Add enough flour to form a soft, but not too sticky, dough. You need to be able to roll it out fairly thin without it falling apart.
• Wrap dough with plastic and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.
• Divide dough into 8 portions. Dust each with flour and roll out onto a well-floured kitchen towel to 1/8-inch thick, or thinner.
• Heat a very lightly buttered nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Cook the lefse in the hot pan, poking the surface lightly with a fork, until golden brown blisters form, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Stack on a plate as they're cooked and keep covered with a towel. Serve warm.

BASIC LEFSE: NORWEGIAN POTATO FLATBREAD

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Preheat the oven to 175 F. Peel the potatoes, making sure that no peels or eyes remain. Coarsely chop them into 1-inch pieces.
• In a stockpot, bring water to a boil and add the potatoes. Boil them until they are fork-tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.
• Drain the boiled potatoes well. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bring them into the hot oven for 15 minutes to dry them further.
• Remove the potatoes from the oven and pass them through a ricer . You need them to be finely riced, so twice through the ricer might give you a better texture. You should have at least 4 cups of riced potatoes.
• Mix in the heavy cream, butter, sugar, and salt.
• Mix well and place the potato dough in the refrigerator, covered, to chill overnight.
• Preheat a lefse griddle or your skillet of choice to 425 F. You need a very hot surface to properly cook the lefse. Use a pastry blender to cut the flour into the chilled potatoes, or vigorously knead the flour in until you have a smooth dough.
• With the help of an ice cream scoop, divide the dough into 16 to 20 biscuit-sized balls.
• Generously flour a pastry cloth or board and a rolling pin. Roll out each piece of dough into a 12-inch circle, dusting with more flour as needed.
• Carefully lift the circle with a lefse stick or the handle of a flat wooden spatula. Transfer it quickly to the griddle.
• Cook the lefse on the griddle until brown spots begin to appear.
• Flip and cook the other side.
• Remove the cooked lefse to a plate lined with a damp clean cloth to cool. Cover with another damp cloth. Continue to cook the remaining dough balls until you've used all of the dough.
• Serve the lefse smeared with butter to taste and a sprinkle or two of sugar.
• Enjoy.

NORWEGIAN POTATO LEFSA

Steps:

• Peel potatoes and place them in a large pot with a large amount of water. Bring water to a boil, and let the potatoes boil until soft. Drain and mash well.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine 8 cups mashed potatoes, cream, butter, salt, and sugar. Cover potatoes and refrigerate over night.
• Mix flour into the mashed potatoes and roll the mixture into balls about the size of tennis balls, or smaller depending on preference. Keep balls of dough on plate in the refrigerator.
• Taking one ball out of the refrigerator at a time, roll dough balls out on a floured board. To keep the dough from sticking while rolling it out, it helps to have a rolling pin with a cotton rolling pin covers.
• Fry the lefsa in a grill or in an iron skillet at very high heat. If lefsa brown too much, turn the heat down. After cooking each piece of lefsa place on a dishtowel. Fold towel over lefsa to keep warm. Stack lefsa on top of each other and keep covered to keep from drying out.

MOM'S NORWEGIAN POTATO LEFSA

Steps:

• Heat cream and shortening until shortening is melted. Cool and then add to riced potatoes. Sift flour, sugar and salt and add to potato mixture. Take a piece of dough as for pie crust (I use a piece a little smaller than a tennis ball), Roll the dough in a circle on a floured cloth rolling as thin as possible.
• Using a lefsa turner (a long thin stick) to lift the rolled lefsa dough, bake on top of a lefsa or pancake griddle that is pre-heated to 425 degrees F. Bake until light brown on both sides. Serve warm or cooled spread with butter and sugar and rolled up.
• Cut into one-fourths, for serving.

INSTANT POTATO NORWEGIAN LEFSE

Steps:

• In a large saucepan or pot, bring the water to boil and add the milk, butter, sugar, and salt. When the milk has come to a boil, add the potato flakes and stir until smooth. Pour the potatoes into a large bowl and refrigerate.
• When ready to make the lefse, take out 2 cups of potatoes at a time and add 1 to 1 1/2 cups of flour and stir until it becomes a workable dough. Flour a counter surface and roll the dough out as thin as possible. Cut individual slices with the a round cookie cutter, or the top of a medium sized glass.
• Add about 1 tsp oil to a skillet pan and cook the lefse for about 3-5 minutes, or when brown blisters start to form on the top. Flip and cook for another 3-5 minutes.
• Continue to cook the individual slices until the potato dough is gone. You may be able to cook several lefse at a time if you have a large enough skillet, if not cook one at a time. Any leftover cooked lefse may be refrigerate and used for about 3-5 more days.

LEFSE(FROM NORWAY TO NORTH DAKOTA)

Steps:

• Put the whole, unpeeled potatoes in a pot and cover with cold water by 2 inches. Bring to a boil and simmer gently until a fork goes through the potatoes with little resistance, about 40 minutes.
• Cut the potatoes into smaller chunks and press through a ricer. If you don't have a ricer, peel the potatoes and mash with a fork or masher. Measure out 4 loosely-packed cups of riced potatoes and put in a large bowl. Heat the heavy cream, butter, sugar and salt in a small pot until the butter melts. Add the butter/cream mixture to the potatoes and mix gently. Put the mashed potatoes in the refrigerator to cool down, about 30 minutes. Once cooled completely, add the flour and work it gently into the potatoes. Do not over work the dough. Allow to rest at room temperature for 10 minutes.
• Take 2 tablespoons of dough and form it into a ball. Sprinkle flour on a sheet of parchment or wax paper. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough into a very thin circle, about 1/16-inch thick and 7 inches wide. Flour the dough as necessary to avoid sticking.
• Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Turn the parchment or wax paper upside down and gently peel off the thin circle of dough onto your hand. Place the dough directly in the heated skillet. Cook on one side until some brown speckles start to form, about 1 minute, and then flip the dough and cook for an additional 30 seconds. Transfer the cooked lefse to a plate and keep covered with a clean kitchen towel. Repeat with the remaining dough.
• To serve, spread butter and sprinkle sugar on a warm lefse and roll it up. If the lefse is cold, you can warm it up quickly in a heated skillet.