Christmas has passed—the Christmas goodies have been devoured. Maybe this was the year you tried making new treats, or maybe this was your first year including lefse in your menus. Now that things have quieted down in the new year, you might be looking for a new challenge. How about making your own lefse? You can get a complete lefse making set at Norsland Lefse. (Or maybe you got a grill as a Christmas gift and now want to try it out!)

For me, lefse has always been part of family get-togethers at Thanksgiving, Christmas and in the winter. We had a large wood-burning cookstove when I was little. My mom and grandma would fire up the cookstove and bake our lefse right on top of the cast iron stove. Keeping the correct temperature was a trick—they needed to feed the fire throughout the baking. Once we got an electric lefse grill, it became much easier!

Winter is the best time to make lefse. Low humidity is required to produce a good lefse. Lefse is baked on a 500 degree grill after rolling it out by hand—both details help warm up both the participant and the kitchen! The best potatoes are Russets, a dry, mealy potato often used for baking and French fries.

Making lefse is a two day process. The first day, you’ll need to peel your potatoes and boil them. Once they are boiled, drain the water completely and rice the potatoes immediately. Potato ricers are not a standard kitchen tool, but you can purchase them at Norsland Lefse as well. Ricing the potatoes ensures that no lumps remain; doing it while the potatoes are warm is easier than letting them cool.

Once the potatoes are riced, let them cool and then refrigerate covered overnight. The next day, flour, shortening and salt are worked into the dough with your hands to create the lefse dough. While you make the dough, you heat your grill to 500 degrees.

Once the dough is ready, take a handful of dough about the size of an orange, flatten it and roll on a flour covered surface using a lefse rolling pin. The texture of the pin helps you to roll the dough without it sticking as it would on a regular rolling pin. (I actually roll my lefse on my countertop.) Rolling lefse is a skill to learn; just the right pressure is needed to get the dough thin, but not stuck on your rolling pin or surface. (Consider a Rolling Pin Cover to prevent sticking. They slide onto the rolling pin, keep the dough from sticking in the grooves, and are washable/reusable.) Practice makes perfect—usually the first try needs to be rerolled for me each year for me to get back in the groove. If you need to reroll it, work in half fresh dough and half of the old dough. (If you reroll the dough too many times, it will get tough.)

I’ve found it works best for me to start each stroke rolling lefse in the middle of the flattened dough ball and roll to the outer edge, using a lighter pressure as I reach the edge of the lefse. Be sure to change direction each time a bit to make a lefse as round as possible. I usually flip the lefse dough over after a few rolls, adding a bit more flour to the board and the pin.

Once the lefse is rolled out, use a lefse stick and loosely roll the lefse on the stick, move it to above the grill and unroll it. I actually have two lefse sticks, a wider, thicker one (1 ½ inches wide and ¼ inch thick) made by my husband that I use to transfer the lefse to the grill and a narrower, thinner one (¾ inch wide and ⅛ inch thick) made by my grandfather that I use to remove the finished lefse from the grill and take it to cool.

The lefse will get the traditional brown freckles as it bakes. After about a minute, flip the lefse and bake the other side, using your lefse stick. (I actually just use my fingers, but be careful, the grill is hot!) Right after I flip it, I dust the lefse with a dry cloth to remove excess flour.

I fold my lefse in quarters to cool. When totally cool, I either refrigerate or put in ziploc freezer bags and freeze for later. to get close to that just baked warm, I sometimes pop it in the microwave for a few seconds before serving.

The absolute best time to eat lefse is while it’s still a little warm so the butter spread on it melts a little. Don’t eat too warm or you’ll get a bellyache according to the warnings I was always given as a kid! (Maybe my mom and grandma just wanted to save some for others!)

Does it sound a bit challenging to make your own lefse? To be honest, it does take practice, but oh, how much fun to practice and gradually get thinner and thinner lefse! Not to speak of being able to eat your trials! I well remember my first attempt at making lefse by myself. I was so proud of the results. I took a sample over to my elderly neighbors; they had never had lefse. They actually put it in their toaster and ate it with jam! The good news was they declared it delicious, the bad news is, obviously, my lefse was a lot too thick!

Since then I’ve improved and my family enjoys homemade lefse every holiday. I do still stop in at Norsland Lefse and buy their lefse when I want just a few rounds throughout the year. Norsland Lefse tastes homemade; they still make their lefse from real potatoes and all natural supplies, unlike many other companies.

Below you will find my recipe for lefse as well as step-by-step pictures so you too can make your very own lefse. This recipe uses 10 pounds of potatoes; you can always decrease it to make a smaller batch, but I always figure if I’m making lefse and getting my kitchen dusty with flour, I might as well make a bunch!

Homemade Lefse Recipe

Ingredients:

• 10 pounds Russet potatoes
• 10 teaspoons salt
• 5 ⅓ cups flour
• 15 ⅓ tablespoons shortening

Directions:

Step 1: Peel and boil the potatoes until soft. Drain and rice the potatoes immediately into a large Tupperware bowl. Cool at room temperature; cover and refrigerate overnight.

Step 2: The following day, heat your lefse grill to 500 degrees.

Step 3: While the grill is heating, mix the potatoes (about the equivalent of 16 cups) with the salt, flour, and shortening. The shortening is almost a cup (There are 16 tablespoons in a cup; I like to use butter-flavored Crisco.)

Step 4: Take a handful of dough about the size of an orange, roll it into a ball; flatten the ball and roll with your lefse rolling pin on a floured surface.

Step 5: After a few rolls, flip the dough over, flouring the surface with a bit more flour as well as the rolling pin.

Step 6: Continue to roll the dough until you have a round about 16 to 18 inches in diameter. Roll in a different direction each time to make the dough get as circular as possible (much like pie crust). begin rolling in the center of the dough and ease up pressure as you reach the edge.

Step 7: Using a lefse stick, loosely roll the lefse on the stick and transfer it to the hot grill.

Step 8: Bake the lefse for about a minute; it will develop brown freckles and bubble up as it bakes. While it bakes, you can be rolling your next lefse.

Step 9: Flip the lefse on the grill, dust it off with a cloth to eliminate excess flour and bake the other side.

Step 10: Use the lefse stick to remove the baked lefse by putting the stick under the middle to fold it, drop it on the grill and put under the lefse again in the middle of the folded lefse to fold it in quarters.

Step 11: Stack the lefse on a kitchen towel, making sure to cover with the towel completely.

Step 12: Allow the covered stack to cool completely before bagging the lefse and storing it in the refrigerator or freezer depending on how soon you plan to use it.

Step 13: When I take the lefse out of the freezer, I wrap the frozen stack in a towel or paper towels to prevent moisture from getting the thawing lefse wet and replace it in a ziploc bag to thaw.

Check out the step-by-step pictures for making lefse below!

1. The flattened lefse dough is ready to roll.

2. After rolling it a few times, flip it over, add a bit of flour under the lefse and to your rolling pin and finish rolling.

3. A rolled lefse ready to transfer to the grill.

4. Roll the lefse on a lefse stick to transfer it to the grill.

5. Lefse on the lefse stick ready to move to the grill.

6. Unroll the lefse from the stick onto the grill.

7. Baking the first side of the lefse.

8. Use the lefse stick to flip to bake the second side.

9. Dust the first side with a cloth to remove excess flour.

10. Remove the finished lefse with a lefse stick under the middle of the lefse.

11. Lay the folded lefse on the grill and pick it up again in the middle with the lefse stick to fold the finished lefse in quarters.

12. Stack the lefse on a kitchen towel and cover the stack completely with the towel to cool.

13. A closeup of the lefse sticks for comparison.

Whether you decide to make your own lefse or purchase your lefse from Norsland Lefse, rest assured that it will have that fresh, homemade taste that is yummy all year long. Lefse makes a great breakfast or lunch wrap any time of the year!