Making Lefsa Today - You bet'cha!

Today I am making that Scandinavian specialty called lefsa.  It is sort of like a potato tortilla, baked on a hot griddle.  Just about everyone in Minnesota eats this delicacy around Christmas time.  I am of Polish heritage and before I came to Minnesota, I never heard of lefsa.  For sure, we never ate it!  But when I first tasted lefsa I just KNEW I had to learn to make it!  It is so delicious.   It takes some practice to make it just right and to make it thin.  Oh sure, a person can eat thick lefsa, but it's a matter of housewife pride to make the thinnest, most delicate lefsa!  Over the years I have learned a lot, so I think I make a 'pretty good' lefsa, as the Norwegians up here would say.   It's a two day process to make lefsa.   On day one you boil up russet potatoes and put the cooked potatoes through a ricer.   Then you add lots of butter and cream and a little bit of salt and sugar and let this cool overnight.   The next day you add flour and mix it all up until you have a dough, but you try not to mix it too much or you will have "tough" lefsa - oh horrors!  This is the messy part.   I just figure on getting bits of potato and flour all over the floor and on my hands.
     Then the dough is rolled out very thinly on a floured cloth, transferred to the hot griddle with a traditional long stick, flipped over, and then set to rest between warm towels.  When it has set enough, you spread it with butter, sprinkle with sugar (I like brown sugar) and roll it up and eat it.  It goes SO well with a cup of hot cider or tea or coffee.   And quite filling, too!
     Here are some photos I took this afternoon of my lefsa making session:

The dough is first rolled into little patties and placed on a floured cloth.   Some ladies have a special round lefsa cloth, but I use a sturdy piece of linen, duct-taped to my pastry board. 

A special grooved rolling pin is used.  The rolling pin is covered with a stockinette cover, and a 2 foot long thin stick is used to handle the lefsa dough.

First one side is cooked until light brown spots appear on the underside.

The lefsa piece is flipped over using the long stick, and the second side is cooked.

A stack of cooked lefsa pieces.  They are folded in half and kept warm.

The cooked lefsa pieces are kept warm in several layers of towels, and I usually put a damp warm towel on top.  (Note my towel from 1971!)

A piece of lefsa cut in half and ready to eat with a mug of hot cider.   Yum!  This is Christmas in Minnesota!

I usually make about 24 to 28 pieces of lefsa.   That's enough for us during the holiday season, and some to share with neighbors.   It takes me an afternoon to do, but it is so worth it!  Merry Christmas!