How to Make Lefse with 2 Different Recipes (Traditional & Instant) (2024)

FAQs

How was lefse traditionally made? ›

Lefse is a soft Norwegian flatbread, made using traditional recipes and baking methods. Lefse is usually made with potatoes, flour, butter, and milk, cream, or lard. Traditionally, lefse is cooked on a flat griddle, with particular wooden utensils used in the process. Lefse has its roots in Viking food traditions.

Spead softened butter over a lefse (be generous with the butter). Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar and roll lefse to eat. This is the traditional Norwegian way to serve and enjoy lefse.

If, after mixing in your other ingredients to the riced potatoes, you find that your lefse dough is loose or sticky, putting your lefse dough in the refrigerator can really make a difference. A few hours in the refrigerator can really stiffen it up and make it much easier to roll out.

Lefse (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈlɛ́fsə̌]) is a traditional soft Norwegian flatbread. It is made with riced potatoes, can include all purpose (wheat) flour, and includes butter, and milk, cream, or lard. It is cooked on a large, flat griddle.

noun. a round Norwegian flatbread resembling a tortilla, made with mashed potatoes and flour.

Butter, sugar — enjoy!

Add sugar or cinnamon sugar for a sweet treat. While in my family lefse was always a cinnamon-sugar thing, in Norway lefse is often served with savory fillings, like smoked salmon and cream cheese, diced onion and sour cream, or cured meat and mustard.

Spread with butter and sprinkle with brown sugar. This is a traditional way to eat lefse. Spread with mustard and wrap around Polish sausage, brats, or hot dogs.

Krinalefse – Originally from Helgeland in Northern Norway, this lefse has a nice pattern and is served with butter, sugar and cinnamon. Back in the day, they served it with gomme, which is almost like a sweet cheese with cinnamon.

If you don't use a pastry cloth, the lefse will stick, and you will wonder why you ever tried this ! @#$ project. Corrugated rolling pin, preferably with cloth cover. If you try a regular rolling pin, your lefse will stick, and again you'll wonder why !

Lefse Stick (substitute long wooden handle of spoon or even better, an unused wooden paint can stirrer). Grooved Lefse Rolling Pin (regular pin can work).

Can you use a tortilla press to make lefse? ›

You can use regular flour too. Add in enough flour until it is the consistency for rolling out. I use a tortilla press to make the lefse. It is so much easier than hand rolling with a rolling pin.

What is this? In parts of western Norway and northern Norway, a lefse usually refers to a slightly thicker, sweet pastry-like item served with coffee. They are typically filled with a sweet, cinnamon butter. These tend to have different names in other parts of Norway. For example, here is Norway, it is klenning.

Put the cooked lefse down on one half of the cloth, brush off any flour (there shouldn't be much, if any) then fold the other half of the cloth over the top. As each sheet comes off the griddle, open up the cloth and put it on the stack. Always cover the stack immediately. The moisture must be conserved.

How to Cook Lefse. If you have a lefse griddle, you're set for success. Because it isn't common to have one lying around, simply use an extremely clean large nonstick skillet, or if you're lucky enough to have an electric crepe maker, use that instead.

What is Lefse? Lefse is a Norwegian original. Colorful stories carry it back to the time of the Vikings, but history shows potatoes first appearing in Norway some 250 years ago. On the traditional Norwegian homestead, enough lefse would be made at one time to last for up to a year.

While in Norway lefse was traditionally made from a variety of flours, when brought to America it became strictly potato-based — because potatoes are what most Norwegian immigrants were able to grow quickly and successfully here.

Lefse, also known as "lefsebrød" in Norwegian, is a traditional soft flatbread that has been a culinary cornerstone in Norway for generations. Crafted from a delectable combination of potatoes, flour, butter, and cream, lefse showcases the simplicity and elegance of Norwegian cooking.

The story of lefse is intertwined with Norwegian history. Just as the Norwegian flatbread was developed as a way to store food over the harsh winter months, lefse served a similar purpose. During the 19th century, the lefse was a popular way to store wheat or potato, which would otherwise be unusable.