Norwegian Potato Lefse

A wooden board with rolled up potato lefse.

5 from 14 votes

Norwegian Potato Lefse is a staple served during the holidays in Norwegian families. This delicate paper thin flat bead made of potatoes and flour is typically served with butter and sugar. While time consuming and tedious, homemade lefse is hands down better than anything you can find. Want to learn how to make lefse and pass on the family tradition? You came to the right place.

Total Time12

Course: Snack

Cuisine: Norwegian

Servings: Depending on size

Calories: 105kcal

Author: Kristin

Equipment

Ingredients

5 pounds Russet Potatoes, peeled washed and diced into 1" slices. Will be about 8-10 cups rice potatoes. See instructions.
½ Cup Unsalted Butter Softened
¼ Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1 teaspoon Salt
2 Cups Flour Plus more for rolling, See notes

Instructions

Prepare the Potatoes

The night before you want to make lefse, prepare the potatoes.
Start off by peeling the potatoes and dicing them into 1" slices.
Add the potatoes to a large pot and cover with water. Make sure the water level is 2" above the potatoes. Stir in the salt and bring the pot to a boil. Continue to boil the potatoes until they are tender and easily fall apart with a fork.
Drain the water and let the potatoes dry. Then place the potatoes in a large bowl. Take a masher and gently mash until they are broken up into small pieces.
IMPORTANT! DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP: Using a potato ricer, press all the potatoes until they are smooth with zero lumps. Lumpy lefse will not roll.
In a large bowl, mix together the soft butter, mashed potatoes, salt, and cream until it is all completely mixed. It should look and taste like mashed potatoes.
Then, add in 2 cups of flour and mix. The dough will start to form and will be thicker.
The next thing you will want to do is take a cookie sheet and line it with parchment paper. Then, take about 1 cup of the potato mixture and form them into logs. They will be the size, and look like a russet potato.
Place the potato logs on the parchment, cover them with plastic wrap, and place them in the refrigerator overnight.

Prep Work Station

Before you make lefse, it's so important that you have a good workspace all set up. Clear the counter and have your grill, rolling mat, turning stick, flour, a dry cloth and a space with towels where they will be cooling. Have your griddle and rolling board close to make transferring easier.
Generously flour your pastry board and rolling pin. Add some more flour. And then more.

Rolling Lefse

Warm up the lefse grill to 450-500 degrees Fahrenheit or medium-high heat. Allow it to completely warm up before grilling your first one. I find 450 is the sweet spot for my griddle
Take one of the dough logs and cut it into pieces. The size is really up to you and how big you want your rounds to be. I typically get 7-9 slices per log.
Take your first piece and gently dab each side in the flour.
Now gently roll the piece in a couple of directions with the rolling pin.
While it is still really thick, flip it over. This will coat both sides with flour and reduce the chances of it sticking to the roller. While flipping, make sure there is still a good amount of flour under the lefse. Since I started doing this not one has stuck to the board.
Continue rolling in multiple directions until it is paper thin. Use more of a gliding movement and do not push down too hard.
If any dough gets stuck on the cloth or in your rolling pin, stop immediately and scrape it off right away. Use a butter knife to scrape any dough off and reapply more flour.
If your lefse does starts to tear or rip DO NOT RE ROLL! It is better to grill as it is with the holes. If you ball it back together and re roll, it will be too thick.
Reapply flour to your workspace and rolling pin often.

Grilling Lefse

When the lefse is nice and thin transfer to the griddle. Using a lefse stick, carefully slide it under the middle of your round. You want the flat side of the stick to glide along the pastry board.
Pick it up and roll it out onto the grill. This takes practice.
Once on the grill, allow the first side to cook for about a minute or until it starts to get golden brown.
Take the lefse stick again and glide under the middle, lift and roll out on the other side.
Grill the other side a bit longer and allow the brown spots to form.
Remove lefse from the griddle and place on one half of a flour sack towel or tea towel. Lay each piece on top of each other and cover with the other side of the towel. This will keep the moisture in while they cool. If left out they can become crusty.
Either enjoy right away or allow to completely cool before storing in the refrigerator.

Notes

This recipe makes 20-30 large or 40-50 smaller lefse. Keep in mind, there will be waste, some consumed right away and it freezes great for later. I always make a lot at one time.

Ingredient Notes:

Flour

My lefse recipe calls for very little flour in the actual dough. Since a lot is needed for rolling I would rather use more then.

For this much lefse I always end up using about half of a 5 pound bag.

Tips for Making Lefse:

1. Rice the Potatoes. This is a must. Lefse requires the creamiest potatoes without a lump in sight. No one likes lumpy potatoes, especially in the lefse. Do yourself a favor and get a good potato ricer.
2. Use Very Little Flour. Flour, while necessary, when you use too much, it can cause the lefse to be way too thick. This takes a lot of practice. When starting out you may need to use a lot more flour, and then over time you'll learn to work with the potatoes using less and less.
3. Make sure the potato mix is cold before rolling. Cold potatoes roll a lot better than at room temperature. Chill them overnight in logs or balls so that we are only working with a few at a time. That way the rest of the potatoes can stay in the refrigerator until you are ready to use them.
4. Make sure the griddle is hot. Lefse needs to cook quickly so having a hot grill is crucial.
5. Only cook the first side for about a minute. This is a recent trick I learned and it worked so well. Let your first side cook only for a minute, then flip. Let the second side cook longer and develop those brown spots.
6. Do not re-roll. If the lefse tears or rips, it's better to just grill as it is. When it gets balled up and re-rolled it will just be too thick.
7. Roll in a gliding movement not pushing down: Pushing down on the rolling pin will only cause it to rip. Use more of a gliding movement.
8. You will only learn with practice. There will be lots of ugly lefse, lefse with holes, ripped in half and pieces of dough stuck everywhere. Just know this is normal and part of the process. This one is worth repeating!

Read the full to post to get all my steps, instructions and tips.

How to Freeze Lefse?

Fold each piece in fourths and keep in stacks of about 4-6, wrap in plastic wrap and then keep in a ziplock bag. That way you can just remove smaller portions at a time for serving.

Join the Let's Make Lefse community!

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