Easy Homemade Lefse

Today I’m going to show you how I make some very easy homemade lefse. In case you’re wondering what on earth lefse is, it is a round Norwegian flatbread and a staple at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Lefse is considered to be labor-intensive.  Often families will get together to make a bunch at a time, since it is quite a process.

Every GOOD Norwegian knows about lefse.  If you’re an amazing Norwegian you stick to the purist way of making it.  Boil potatoes, rice potatoes, mix ingredients, chill, roll dough, grill. Eat with Lutefisk.

Confession #1:  I’m a BAD Norwegian and I take a huge shortcut! I use instant potatoes (shhhhhh!)  My sister is a HORRIBLE Norwegian, she buys hers already made and this fact makes me feel better about using instant potatoes.

Confession #2: I’m NOT Norwegian at all.  So I guess the fact that I even make Lefse makes me somewhat Norwegian.  Maybe. Okay, it doesn’t.

Anyway, I’ve tried several recipes for lefse with instant potatoes.  The one I make today is a  hybrid and combination of these recipes and 6 years of making lefse.

It is sweet, but not overly.  It is not dry at all, and very moist.  We love it and it’s passed the approval of several *very picky* Norwegians and not-Norwegians.

Side Note:  I pumped Mark up so much about how great lefse was when I made it for him for the first time.  I went on an on and on about it.  Mistake.  He was sorely disappointed.  My conclusion is either you love it or you hate it.  But I win in this case because that means Mark doesn’t eat all the lefse.  More for me.

I’d love to put up an entire tutorial sometime because Lefse can be a little tricky to make and you need some special equipment.

Here’s my lefse making buddy, Sarah.  She IS Norweigian and very happy about making some as you can see.  (She is holding the lefse stick by the way)

But for now here’s the recipe for my very own lefse.

Nyte!  or Enjoy!  (for you not-Norwegians)

Easy Homemade Lefse Recipe

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Cuisine Bread

Servings 18 persons

Calories 279.12 kcal

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup instant potato flakes Hungry Jack
• 1 cup sparkling mineral water Perrier
• 2 tablespoon butter
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup flour

Instructions

 

• In a medium mixing bowl, add all the ingredients and stir until thoroughly mixed. Shape dough into balls a little larger than golf ball size. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Heat griddle to 450 degrees. On a well-floured board or pastry cloth, roll out a ball of dough until paper thin.
• Transfer the rolled lefse to heated griddle using a lefse stick, cook for about 1 minute on the first side or until there are brown spots on the bottom surface. Turn the lefse with the lefse stick and cook the other side for about 30 seconds or until brown spots appear on that side.
• Remove the cooked lefse and place it between 2 cloth dishtowels to prevent drying out. Repeat with remaining balls. Let lefse cool and fold each piece into quarters. Store in a ziploc bag.
• To eat, open up lefse slice and spread butter on it. You can eat it this way, or you can also sprinkle sugar on the buttered lefse.