Lefse is a thin Norwegian potato flatbread. Because of my Norwegian heritage on my dad’s side, lefse was something my mom would make around Christmas. She learned how to make it from my great-grandma. And now I usually make some at Christmastime too.
Sometimes when I’ve made way too many mashed potatoes for a big family dinner, lefse is the perfect solution for the leftovers.
“The girls, in their colourful holiday dresses, were spreading the Christmas Eve table and setting out great platters of sausages and cheeses and bowls of red lingonberry sauce and plates of flatbread and lefse and crisp little cookies…”
Alta Halverson Seymour, A Grandma for Christmas, p. 54
Lefse
Lefse is a thin Norwegian potato flatbread. Because of my Norwegian heritage on my dad’s side, lefse was something my mom would make around Christmas. She learned how to make it from my great-grandma. And now I usually make some at Christmastime too.
Sometimes when I’ve made way too many mashed potatoes for a big family dinner, lefse is the perfect solution for the leftovers.
Servings: 24 pieces
Calories: 112kcal
Ingredients
- 6 cups Potatoes mashed (approx. 7 medium potatoes)
- 3 tbsp Butter
- 1 tsp Salt
- ½ cup Milk
- 3 cups All-purpose flour
Instructions
- Peel and slice potatoes. Place in a large pot and cover with water. Add one teaspoon of salt. Place a wooden spoon over the pot and rest the lid on top. This will help keep the potatoes from boiling over. Boil until fork tender.
- Drain and mash the potatoes until smooth.
- In a large bowl, mix all ingredients until well blended. NOTE: If you are using leftover mashed potatoes, and have already added some of the listed ingredients such as butter and milk, do not add those ingredients again. Simply add the salt and 2 ½ -3 cups of flour and mix well. The dough forms best with warm potatoes, so it is best to microwave the leftover mashed potatoes for a couple of minutes to get the chill out of them before adding the flour and salt. The dough should be soft and not sticky.
- Form dough into 2-inch balls.
- Roll each ball out on a lightly floured surface. Roll as thin as possible. Lift off the counter with a metal spatula.
- Place in a hot frying pan or skillet. When brown spots appear, it is ready to turn with a spatula.
- I like to have two skillets heated on my stove top to get into the rhythm of cooking two pieces at a time. I roll out one piece, place it in a skillet. Then I roll out a second piece and place it in the second skillet. By this time the first piece is ready to turn. I roll out a third piece, remove the first piece from the skillet and place on a cooling rack. Then I place the third piece in the empty skillet, turn the second piece and roll out the fourth piece. And so on. Did you get into the rhythm?
- Allow to cool completely on a wire rack, then stack into two or more piles.
- Wrap the stack of lefse with parchment paper and place in a large freezer bag. Refrigerate or freeze.
- To thaw, remove the lefse from the freezer bag, so it doesn’t become soggy from any condensation in the bag.
- To serve, spread with butter, sprinkle with sugar and roll up.
Notes
NOTE: Wash your wooden rolling pin with hot water and very little soap so you don’t wash away the seasoning. This helps keep dough from sticking to it. Never wash your wooden rolling pin in the dishwasher.
Nutrition
Calories: 112kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Sodium: 114mg | Potassium: 245mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 50IU | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 1mg
I often serve lefse with soup. Try it with one of the following recipes.
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