Best Norwegian Lefse 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.

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- NORWEGIAN FLAT BREAD

Steps:

• Peel and cut potatoes. Boil in well salted water until soft. Use more salt than you normally would. You do not want to add salt once they are cooked as it will not dissolve as well.
• Drain well and return to pot. Steam for a few minutes to ensure all water has been evaporated.
• Measure out 4 cups of potatoes, packed well. Rice potatoes now while potatoes are still hot. You may have potatoes left over.
• Place riced potatoes in a plastic bowl with a good sealing lid. Add butter and milk and mash with a HAND masher. Do NOT use an electric mixer as it will get sticky.
• Allow to cool on the counter until potatoes are at room temperature then place several paper towels on top, seal tightly with the lid and place in the refrigerator overnight.
• Next day: Much easier to work with. Mix in flour and sugar and form into small balls. Now roll them out thin and flat using a rolling pin, preferably one with grooves and covered with a sock. You can just cut an old CLEAN sock and slide it over the rolling pin.
• Using a lefse stick or a long flat stick or long thin spatula roll the raw lefse around the stick and then unroll onto a HOT griddle (450 degrees) Flip once the first side starts to form bubbles and is lightly browned or freckled. Cook other side just until lightly browned.
• Using stick again remove lefse from griddle to a towel and place a towel on top to keep them warm and pliable.
• Eat warm or store in the refrigerator in a well sealed container lined with more paper towels. Can also be frozen with waxed paper between each lefse.

NORWEGIAN POTATO AND RYE PANCAKE FLATBREADS - LEFSE

Steps:

• Put the mashed potatoes into a large bowl and add the flour, sugar and salt - mix well.
• Add some water - bit by bit, kneading well so it makes a pliable dough.
• Take little balls from the dough - the size of a small egg and roll them out thinly on a well floured surface.
• Heat up a flat griddle, hotplate or skillet and cook the Lefse with a little fat until the dough bubbles.
• Turn them over and cook the other side.
• When the Lefse have been cooked - they should be smooth and soft.
• Eat them as I have suggested in the Introduction!
• For Vegetarian make sure the Fat is from a Vegetable product such as vegetable oil not from an animal product such as lard.

NORWEGIAN LEFSE FRIED POTATO BREAD

Steps:

• Beat mashed potatoes, shortening, milk and salt until no lumps remain. Cover and refrigerate until completely chilled, at least 4 hours.
• Turn potato mixture onto floured surface; knead in flour. (Dough will be soft). Divide into 20 equal parts; shape each part into a ball. (for best results, work with 4 or 5 balls at a time; cover and refrigerate remaining balls until needed.).
• Shape each ball into a flattened round on heavily floured board. Roll each round as thin as possible into 10 to 12 inch circle with floured stockinet covered rolling pin or lefse rolling pin. Lift dough occasionally with spatula to make sure it is not sticking, adding flour as needed.
• Heat un-greased griddle or lefse baker to 400°F cook until blisters form and brown spots appear on bottom, about 1 minutes on each side. (Do not overcook. Lefse should be soft, not crisp.) Stack cooked lefse between two towels to prevent drying. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate no longer than 3 days or freeze no longer than 1 month. Makes 20 lefse.
• Betty Crocker's New International Cookbook.
• Web site to show how to do.
• http://visualrecipes.com/recipe-details/recipe_id/113/Lefse/.

NORWEGIAN LEFSE

Steps:

• Cover potatoes with water and cook until tender. Run hot potatoes through a potato ricer. Place into a large bowl. Beat butter, cream, salt, and sugar into the hot riced potatoes. Let cool to room temperature.
• Stir flour into the potato mixture. Pull off pieces of the dough and form into walnut size balls. Lightly flour a pastry cloth and roll out lefse balls to 1/8 inch thickness.
• Cook on a hot (400 degree F/200 C) griddle until bubbles form and each side has browned. Place on a damp towel to cool slightly and then cover with damp towel until ready to serve.

NORWEGIAN LEFSE

Steps:

• Cover potatoes with water and cook until tender. Run hot potatoes through a potato ricer. Place into a large bowl. Beat butter, cream, salt, and sugar into the hot riced potatoes. Let cool to room temperature.
• Stir flour into the potato mixture. Pull off pieces of the dough and form into walnut size walls. Lightly flour a pastry cloth and roll out lefse balls to 1/8 inch thickness.
• Cook on a hot (400ºF/200ºC) griddle until bubble form and each side has browned. Place on a damp towel to cool slightly and then cover with damp towel until ready to serve.

NORWEGIAN: LEFSE MED KLING FROM SOGN

Steps:

• Mix the butter into the flour with your hands until crumbly.
• Then, mix in all remaining dry ingredients into the butter/flour mixture.
• Add the kefir milk. Work the mixture until you have a nice dough. It should be like a pie crust dough, not a bread dough.
• Take a ball of dough, about 150 grams in weight and roll with a pin until you have thin 50cm diameter circle. This means you will have a very thin circle when it's finished. You use a thin, 70cm long 2-3cm diameter rolling pin to roll the dough out. You must constantly reposition the piece on the work surface, rolling it up onto the pin on occasion and flipping it over and unrolling it to work the other side. It mustn't stick to the work surface so make sure there is a dusting of flour on the surface at all times. You can't work the dough too much or it will absorb the flour and become stiff and unusable. It's a bit of an art to get it right and you'll need to practice.
• Bake the dough on a special electric frying pan (called a "takke" in Norwegian). It probably is the same pan used to bake Mexican tortillas. You cook it like a pancake, on both sides, until brown spots just begin to appear.
• When done, let the lefses cool.
• When you are ready to eat them, spray them (or dunk them) in water, drain quickly and let them rest a couple minutes on a towel. The excess water is absorbed by the towel and the remainder moistens the lefse.
• Kling filling: Mix all the ingredients together, slowly, a bit at a time until you have an even batter. :
• Spread onto the lefse and roll up/fold together.

SALLY'S NORWEGIAN LEFSE

Steps:

• Mix the first 4 ingredients together.
• Then add the flour, mixing thoroughly and adding a little extra flour if the dough seems too moist.
• If using a pancake griddle, divide dough into egg-sized balls(if using a large lefse grill, larger balls will be needed.).
• Chill the dough-balls for 30 minutes.
• Roll out each ball on a pastry cloth until very thin.
• Bake on a griddle or a lefse grill set at 400 - 500 degrees, until small brown spots appear on the surface. Then, turn and bake the other side until spots appear.
• Cover with a towel or waxed paper after baking, to keep soft.
• Serve buttered, and sprinkled with brown or granulated sugar.