Grandma Ag's Lefse (using instant potato flakes)
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For those that do not know what Lefse is; it’s a potato based tortilla style flat bread. This a another Scandinavian recipe that my …
Hello, Marc. I’d like to communicate with you about a batch I made yesterday. I took a photo of a lefse to show you what it looked like before I put it on the griddle. I’m now on FB, found your page, and managed to comment under your latest post on your FB page. Hope you’ll see it. Thanks!
Today I made lefse for the third time. I decided to add 1/4 C flour (so now my dough incorporated 2 C of flour instead of only 1 3/4 C), which made for a dough that stretches and holds together better. I am amazed at the progress I’ve made in just 3 iterations: my lefse no longer break when I handle them and I am now able to lay them on the griddle without a problem. Most of them came out nice and round. I now also know about how long to keep them on the griddle, so they come out soft and flexible. I am absolutely delighted.
So I’ve just put my second batch of lefse in the cozy! I can report that I got A LOT better already at getting most of my lefse be round rather than oblong and uneven in shape. The other huge progress I’ve made is in laying the lefse onto the griddle WITHOUT it tearing – the top of my griddle is like teflon, which made the lefse slide toward me as I was trying to place them onto the griddle. To remedy that problem I used to try moving them with my fingers, which of course broke them, since they are so thin and delicate. It is an AWESOME recipe, so much so that they are addictive, so a batch “evaporates” in a very short time. It’s too bad that only about 16-17 lefse come out of one batch. I have friends already hoping for more, so again I’ll be left with only a few. I must reiterate, and it can’t be overemphasized that the pastry board needs to be really well floured before rolling a new lefse. If one spot – no matter how small – is left without enough flour covering it, a small piece of the lefse WILL stick to the board!! Even if it’s a small area where the dough sticks, it’s enough to tear a piece of the lefse upon one’s trying to place it upon the stick and lift it toward the griddle. At that point, you can’t manage any repairs, no matter what you try, since they’re so delicate.
Also, I think I kept them on the griddle too long this time, so when they came out of the cozy, though cooled, they were brittle other than in the center area.
These are ADDICTIVELY good! The friends to whom I’ve given samples gave me rave reviews for them. Some have eaten them with butter sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon, and couldn’t have enough of them. Talk about being encouraged to hone one’s newly acquired skill!
Ok, Mark. It looks like YouTube won’t allow me to post photos, so you’ll only have a verbal report from me as to how my first effort went. I think I’ve done really well for a first try! Like everything else, it takes time and practice to get better. Here are my observations after making my first batch:
– Since I live in a very dry climate, my dough needed 1 3/4 Cups of flour to pull into a ball. Indeed, the moisture level of the dough is key to the success of lefse recipes, so I used a little trick in order to test the dough: I took a bit of dough from the mixer and rolled it out with a mini rolling pin, to see how it stretched, so that worked well.
– Laying the lefse onto the hot surface of the griddle (I tried 425 deg, then set it to 450 degrees and all worked well at that temperature) is not as easy as it appears… My griddle surface is teflon, and the lefse begins to slide toward me when I try to place it on the griddle. One needs quite a bit of practice to master that move, I think. I’ve struggled with the first few lefse and put finger holes in them 🙁 but then it got a little better for me.
– One cannot be overly careful as to how well one flours the rolling pin and the pastry board. I’ve had some dough stick to the board and the pin in a few places, thus ruining a lefse or two…
– I have no idea how you manage to end up with lefse shaped like a perfect circle!!! I’ve ended up with a few like that, but most of them were far from being a perfect circle in shape! What’s the trick to get them all perfectly round?
– The last two lefse only sat in the cozy for about 10 minutes. As a result, they were quite crisp. The stack showed me that the longer they had spent in the cozy, the softer they were (the whole batch of 16 balls took me about 2 hrs to complete, btw). So, they do need a long time in the cozy to make them soft, as they should be.
Hi, Mark. Just got done making the lefse. I came out with 16 of them. I will now work on my report and will follow up with that soon, and I’ll try to attach some photos as well.
Hi, Mark. Tomorrow will be my first try at making lefse. All my equipment has arrived and I’m ready to get started on this culinary adventure! I just prepared the potato flakes mixture and it is cooling on my counter. Needless to say, tomorrow is a big day! I hope to be able to give you a good report.
I forgot to ask an important question: what temperature setting do we have on the grill?
After I saw your video the first time, I made a trial batch – yes, without real knowledge or the right equipment… Yet, although they came out looking like tortillas, they STILL were so good. Addictively good. Anyway, right from the get go I realized that – as you’ve mentioned – the amount of moisture in the dough is critical for the success of the recipe.
Great video and wonderful-looking lefse! How long do the lefse have to stay covered? Can lefse be frozen?
Oil. The butter in the less dough is oil. Thanks for doing this! Really interesting and we'll done! Grandma taught you well!
Taking my first crack at Lefsa as my family supplier is too far away now so have been doing without for a few years – your video is great and it inspired me to give it a go using the flakes 🙂
I LOVE LEFSE….AROUND TURKEY TIME..I WOULD SPREAD BUTTER ON IT AND SLICE TURKEY OH SO GOOD…THANK YOU FOR YOUR GREAT VIDEO….NOW I'M CRAVING FOR LEFSE…MUST LOOK FOR A SOME PLACE TO BUY THIS…ANY SUGGESTIONS WHERE I CAN LOOK? AGAIN THANK YOU
Tip: when making your balls, use an ice cream or cookie scoop. It makes them all the same size and you’ll know how many you get before you roll them out. I keep my dough cold at all times, taking out 5- 6 balls at a time to work with. ( btw, I’ve been making lefse since I was 5 when my grandmother taught me…over 40 yrs now)
you put the potatoes in the fridge so it changes the starch in the potatoes a pro cook can explain it better
Well!!! This is a new version of lefse folks! It certainly looks lovely, I was worried the mixer was going to ruin the mix as the gluten would be so over active that the sticking to your board might be a BIG PROBLEM, but no sir! You rolled out those lefses with no problems at all… great stuff!!👏🏻IM GOING TO GET SOME POTATO FLAKES AND GIVE IT A GO,! My grandies will have lefse this christmas after all!!.. I still have my handmade rolling pin that my dad made for me many years ago.. it has only straight lines/ridges, he had a lathe, made a rolling pin for everyone in the family and beyond, so.. now there are a lot of us happily rolling as we think of him with every roll of the pin.. he made boards too.. I sewed the covers, put elastic in the outer edge.. pretty slick, no gradations like your bought version though!!.. we can eyeball the size we want pretty good .. I must share with all my cousins and family if my attempt works well? Thanks very much for this video and GOD JUL to you and yours BEST..CHERYL🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
Love the stories. My mother and her sisters also made lefse for the holidays
Why don't you just close up and get going making lefsa !!!!!!!!1
Love your mom's swear word comment. My Grandma, emigrated with her family from Norway, could swear up a storm in Norwegian with the best of them. We used Lefsa as bread and ate it for every meal. When it was lefsa making time, the whole family would start on Friday night making up the potatoes, then make 30 to 60 dozen lefsa rounds, and cut in half, then freeze. It usually lasted for three months or so, then we'd schedule another visit to the farm and repeat.
I still have my griddle in the same box.
Thank you! You’re a really good instructor!