How To Make Perfectly Imperfect Lefse At Home

I lied.

Earlier, I boasted that my lefse is better than your grandma’s. My first batch may have been better than your grandmother’s, but this batch probably wasn’t. Still, it’s pretty damn good.

Jake and I come from families with Scandinavian heritages. Our grandfathers epitomized the Stoic Norwegian stereotype and our grandparents drank strong black coffee. My grandparents’ shelves were decorated with rosemaling and books about Norwegian trolls. Although my parents didn’t outwardly embrace their Scandinavian heritage, they wore the wool sweaters decorated with reindeer and played the cassette tape “How to Talk Minnesotan” every time guests arrived. I looked forward to holidays where relatives brought pickled herring and rolls of lefse rolled around thick layers of butter and brown sugar. Growing up in Minnesota, encountering these foods at holiday meals or potlucks was the most normal thing in the world.

Homemade lefse is so special because making lefse is hard. It’s not impossibly difficult, per se, but most certainly a labor of love. The process involves boiling potatoes, ricing them twice, stirring in the salt, butter, and cream, and letting the mixture chill overnight. This step is essential. The next day, one must knead flour into the potato mixture and divide the dough into balls and chill them again. The final step is rolling out the fussy dough as paper-thin as possible and quickly cooked the lefse on a griddle. Making lefse is like a walking meditation.

There’s a reason why one branch of my family prepares it once a year. Everyone pitches in at the lefse-making party to roll out the dough and cook the lefse on skillets and electric griddles.

Lefse cravings are easily solved in Minnesota. Simply visit (most) any grocery store and grab a package from the refrigerated aisle. One can even visit a specialty Scandinavian food store like Ingebretsen’s or cafe like The Finnish Bistro for “lefse scramble” and “lefse wraps.” Pre-made lefse usually doesn’t taste like it’s made with cream or butter, but it’ll scratch the itch.

I am by no means a lefse-making expert, but I know how to make lefse that tastes really good. It’s not paper-thin or perfectly round; some pieces more closely resemble flour tortillas than translucent sheets. I don’t own a special lefse griddle, textured rolling pin, or cloth-covered board. But, if you want to make delicious, imperfect lefse at home, stay tuned as I tell you how to improvise with basic kitchen tools. The one tool you must have is a potato ricer.

Homemade Lefse

Ingredients:

Five pounds of potatoes. I use russet. Other recipes specify red.
7 tablespoons melted or softened butter. I use salted
1 cup of heavy cream
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of sugar
2 1/2-3 cups of unbleached, AP flour
More flour for rolling out the dough.
Serve with: Butter & brown sugar

Instructions:

1. Fill a large pot halfway full of cold water.

potatoes

2. Wash potatoes. Peel and cut into similarly-sized chunks. If you save some of the peels, you can roast them into a snack. Toss potato pieces into the cold water as you cut, so they don’t oxidate and turn brown.

DSC_0621

To roast potato peels, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake at 375 degrees F. until crispy.

3. Place pot on stove top and bring to a boil. Simmer until the potatoes are fork tender or easily smashable with kitchen tongs.

potatoes boilig

4. Drain potatoes. Rice them twice while they are still warm.

5. Stir in the butter, salt, sugar, and cream. Cover and chill overnight.

mashed potatoes

6. The next day, knead flour into the potato mixture. I start with two cups and usually end up kneading in about three. You may need more or less. The lefse will have a more delicate texture if you add less flour. Once the dough is mostly incorporated, divide it into two parts for easier kneading. The dough should feel smooth, slightly elastic, and a little bit sticky but not too wet.

7. Roll the dough into small balls and chill for about an hour. Warm dough is almost impossible to work with. It will rip, tear and stick to the rolling surface.

potato balls

8. Preheat griddle. I use a big electric skillet.

9. Liberally dust your surface and rolling-pin with flour. Gently roll out the ball of dough, making sure to sprinkle more flour underneath and on top as needed so that it doesn’t stick. If you find yourself using a lot of flour, that’s ok. Roll as thin as you can without ripping it. A spatula or dough scraper makes this process easiest. If you find that the particular ball of dough keeps ripping, simply roll it back into a ball, re-flour your surfaces, and try again. 

10. Gently transfer your lefse to the griddle with a spatula, dough scraper or lefse stick immediately after rolling it. If you let the paper-thin dough sit on the counter, it will warm-up and stick.

lefse flip

11. Cook lefse until it light golden brown bubbles form. Flip.

12. Transfer cooked lefse to a plate or clean towel. You can fold them in half or quarters. Cover with another clean towl and allow them to cool completely on the counter before storing.

13. To freeze the lefse, layer unfolded sheets between waxed paper. Place in freezer bags and store. Wrapping the bags in foil can help prevent freezer burn flavor. When you are ready to use the frozen lefse, thaw in fridge.

14. This might be sacrilegious, but I like a little crisp on my lefse. Reheat by briefly cooking them in a skillet. Spread with butter, sprinkle with brown sugar, and roll into logs.

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Is lefse one of your family traditions? Or have you never seen it before? I love talking lefse. 

Helpful Lefse Links:

Heavy Table: Lefse from Scratch: Worth the Effort?

The New York Times: Lefse Recipe by Molly Yeh & Sam Sifton

An Adopted Korean Makes Her First Batch of Lefse: My old Simple, Good & Tasty piece

19 Comments

  1. Katie

    I love lefse! My aunts make it, but I haven’t participated in a long time. Maybe this winter!

    • Jeni

      Have a lefse party:)

      • Sandy Dahlen

        I want to make some NOW!!

  2. Beth Ann Chiles

    I have never tasted lefse. How could I have lived so close to Minnesota and never tried it? I don’t have a ricer so it looks like I am out of luck.

    • Janet M Rau

      Use instant mashed potatoes instead. I grew up on lefse and while it isn’t perfect, it is good enough to make new memories with my kids.

  3. Mary

    Labor of love for sure. I have a great story around lefse. Dave’s grandmother, mother, and niece spent all day making a batch of lefse (in our kitchen that was his parent’s then) ..they put the lefse on the counter to go for a walk and when they came back, Dave’s dog Mika (who NEVER ate off our countertop at home) had eaten all of it!! His grandma thought it was the funniest thing she had ever seen…testament to the type of person she was, someone else may have been very upset. The story gets brought up a lot, and still brings tears of laughter to my mother in law. <3

  4. Donna Hup

    I still have not had lefse. Maybe because of the gluten, but now I have a recipe I can play with!

    • karen lantto

      i just made a batch of gluten free dairy free lefsa . it worked real well and tastes amazing!! nice and soft and tastes like the old fashioned lefsa, texture is nice also. Not perfectly round but rolled out pretty well and put on grill easily enough. instead of the cream i used coconut milk and cant taste it. i can have butter which amazes me . i used 3 # of russet potatoes, riced, 3 tbls butter 3 tbls coconut milk 1 1/2 tsp salt and sugar. then when cool i added 1 1/4 cup of gluten free flour. ( i used mamas almond blend) i also added 1/2 tsp xantham gum. and rolled them in balls and chilled them then i rolled them out and grilled them.

      • Jeni

        Thank you so much for sharing!

  5. Stefan Frisch

    They are great for holiday leftovers: Fill them with turkey, cranberries, potatoes, stuffing, etc. Yummy!

  6. Amy

    Interesting. My dad made lefse several times a year while he was still able–he made fantastic lefse. He only riced it once, and refrigerated it for about an hour.

    • Jeni

      Thanks for sharing! Maybe this year I’ll worry less about the cooling time.

  7. Linda

    I haven’t had lefse since my grandmother died years ago. She lived in Missouri and we lived in Colorado. In the 60’s and 70’s, she would make lefse and mail it to us (via snail mail). We would open the package in anticipation hoping it hadn’t molded during shipping. Heat it up and load it up with butter. Sometimes I would add the sugar.

    My mom has the rolling pin and paddle but has never made it. I’m going to learn how to make it. I’ve found someone who is willing to teach me. I’m so excited.

    • Jeni

      What a special care package! It’s a labor of love for sure.

  8. Steve Hild

    You list sugar in the ingredients, but not in the recipe. It’s it supposed to be added with the butter and cream?

    • Jeni

      Thanks for pointing that out and my apologies! Yes, I would add it in the lefse dough along with the flour, butter and cream and salt

  9. Steve Hild

    Thanks. Since it was an exact measure I thought it should be, but just wanted to make sure.

  10. Ms Gerrity

    I’m so excited to make these.. My Lituanian mother used to make what they call “Kugla” it’s made with potatoes and baked it’s so delish..I can’t wait to try this..Sounds delish.. Thanks so much for sharing. I just finish watching Lydia..the sicilian chef touring heritage America. Then I had to search h for the recipe.

  11. Julie

    It’s crazy to me how many different recipes exist for the same food. I love making lefse, and people clamor for it. I have to ship it to my relatives because none of them can find anything half as good anywhere else (that sounds like bragging, but I don’t mean it like that!). My recipe doesn’t have cream – just potatoes (red makes a better texture than russet), butter, baking powder, salt, sugar and flour. I rice it only once, and cool it just until it’s cold (I set the bowl out in the snow for a couple of hours – great feature of this being a winter food!). I do all of it myself – from the peeling to the ricing, rolling and cooking/flipping. My husband and daughter pop in to help a bit now and then, but they are better at taste-testing than anything else, because they get distracted and forget to flip the lefse when it’s on the griddle. ?. My lefse is paper thin…but never round. Anyway, just some thoughts, as it strikes me as funny that there are so many different approaches to this wonderful Norwegian tradition!

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