Traditional Lefse Day

Ever since I was a little girl my mom has made lefse every holiday season. It is as iconic to our family as the Thanksgiving turkey or the Christmas tree. The holiday season would not be the same without this classic treat in our home. We are starting to pass on the tradition to our kids who are now old enough to help. They are learning how to flour the lefse boards, roll out the mounds of dough ever so carefully, and place it on the lefse grill.

Before we began our lefse marathon, I ran up to see Joey Neely at the Copper Kitchen to see if he had any lefse tools on hand. He had exactly what I was looking to purchase, and I was able to head home with my new rolling pin cover and lefse turner in hand.

My mom is an avid lefse maker for years had her griddle, pastry board covers, and rolling pins ready to go!

For my family, lefse making has always been a two-day process. Successful lefse starts with buying the perfect potatoes, #1 Russet potatoes, purchased that day or the day before. It is important that they are the freshest and hardest potatoes you can find. Spending money on the right potatoes is worth it! Peel and cut them in half. It takes about ten pounds of potatoes.

Put the potatoes on to boil and in the words of my mom, “Get’em to the stage the fork goes in really easy and DO NOT OVERCOOK! If you overcook them the dough will get sticky and hard to work with!”

Once the potatoes are ready to strain the potatoes in a colander place the potatoes back into the pot, and you are ready to begin the ricing process!

There is a couple of ways to rice potatoes. You can use an old-fashioned ricer, or you can use a chinois set (which is what we used this year). Both can be found at the Copper Kitchen! If you have an easier way to rice potatoes I would love to know about it and so would my dad!

When you have nine cups of potatoes riced, you are ready to finish your dough. To the riced potatoes add one stick of butter (not margarine). This year we used Hope butter which is made in Hope, MN (I will never use any other butter for baking! We saw a significant difference to our baking by using this butter! I am a Hope butter believer!) To the potatoes and butter add a third cup whipping cream, 1 tablespoon of salt, and one tablespoon of sugar. Mix in well. Cover the dough, and they are ready for the morning!

 Add two and a half cups of flour when the mixture is cold.

Use a quarter cup of the mixture for each lefse, form into a patty, and then roll into a circle on a floured lefse board. Below Naomi is learning how to roll out a perfect circle. She kept repeating to herself “front, back, side, side.”

Now, here’s my awesome mom to show you exactly how to do it!

httpsss://youtu.be/ReaUkMzh3vs

When the lefse is golden brown and looks like this on both sides, it’s done!

When every ball of dough has been rolled and cooked to golden perfection, we allow them cool and then fold each piece in half and then in half again we place four in a quart size bag. Trying to fit any more in a bag tends to put crinkles and holes in them. We then divide them up and take them home. They are best stored in the fridge or freezer until ready to be used.

Traditionally lefse is spread with butter then sprinkled with either cinnamon sugar or our families favorite brown sugar! Rolled up, cut into pieces, and deliciously enjoy!

A batch yields around three dozen give or take depending on how many make it past our taste testers!

Recipe:

9 cups riced potatoes – kind of packed down
1 stick butter (not margarine)
Add while warm:
1/3 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar

Add 2 1/2 cups flour when the mixture is cold. Use 1/4 cup of mixture for each lefse. Form into a patty and then roll into a circle on floured lefse board. The recipe takes about 10 lbs. of potatoes.

You will also need:

*Lefse grill
*Lefse board with removable cover
*Potatoe ricer
*Lefse turning stick
*Two thick towels
*Wax paper
*Quart size bags for packaging the lefse when it’s done

Yields: 3 dozen

Happy Holidays from our Family to Yours!