Food, Fun, Friends

Kick off to the Holiday's starts a bit early in our home. We have a birthday just a few days before Thanksgiving, so we start with Birthday cake, then pies and treats all the way through Christmas, followed by another birthday to finish the season with a Birthday cake! This year I decided to have some friends over to help us eat some of that cake, and they were kind enough to stay and help us make Lefse. (Not the stinky fish one, it is more like a potato based tortilla)

I start the night before cooking the potatoes.



Riced potatoes

 5lb bag of russet potatoes. Peel then boil. When they are fork tender It is time to 'rice' them.

Cover and refrigerate over night.

In the Morning mix in 3/4C Evaporated Milk
1/4 C. Regular Milk (1% - Whole)
2/3 C. Melted Shortening
2 tsp. Salt
2 Tbsp. Sugar

4C. flour (Have way more than this on hand.)

Combine until a bread like consistency, use more flour if you need it, and refrigerate 8 hours.

Split dough into 2 bowls and start making balls the size of  large eggs. Always keep 1 bowl in the fridge and rotate often. Colder dough seems to roll out and cook better.

Tools you will need:

Lefse Griddle. This is a round griddle that should be used for NOTHING else oil/grease should NEVER touch it's surface.

Round Pastry Cloth (Mine covers a board that keeps it taught and flat)

Lefse Rolling Pin (it is a pin with tiny squares etched over the entire surface)

Rolling Pin Cover (This is a luxury that you don't NEED, but they are only $2 and will save you the yucky job of picking dough out of the rolling pin with a toothpick. I would highly recommend you get one. They are washable and reusable. I have had mine for 6 years and have yet to replace it)

Lefse Stick. This stick is used like a spatula for moving the lefse from the pastry cloth to the griddle, to the sweeping station.

Pastry brush. used for sweeping away excess flour.

White Cheese Cloth type towels. you will need 3 or 4

Your Dough is ready, you have your utensils... Lets do it!

Start by HEAVILY flouring your pastry cloth. You should NOT be able to see any of the red writing. It is important to use a lot of flour. If your dough sticks even once to your cloth or your roller, it will be a pain to finish the rest of rolling. 

Then roll it out thin. The thinner the better.

Use the lefse stick to gently lift the lefse off the pastry cloth and onto the griddle. Cook for a couple minutes on each side. It will bubble up and get light brown spots like a tortilla. Remove from griddle and place on top of towels. I like to lightly moisten the towels with water to keep the lefse soft.

Use pastry brush to swipe away excess flour from lefse and griddle as needed. This swiping step is why earlier you can use so much flour to keep it from sticking.

Lefse can be eaten many ways. Use it like a wrap for your Thanksgiving leftovers. I like to slather it in butter and then sugar or cinnamon sugar, roll it up and yum. Store in an air tight container in your refrigerator. If it starts to dry out place a moistened towel in the container.