Lefse Makin' Fun

 

It's that time of year again...time to transform my kitchen into a flour-filled mess...

Lefse!

Here's the recipe we used this year. (Yeah, I change things up all the time, so we never know from year to year what we're doing)

10 lbs potatoes, peeled
1/2 C butter
1/3 C heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar (I did not use this)
2 1/2 C all purpose flour

Here we go.

 

First, peel those taters.  Here's where child labor comes into play...

Next, cook the potatoes.  Add them to boiling water for about 20 minutes. You don't want them too mushy.

Cooked potatoes

After they've been cooked, comes the fun part of ricing.

I don't use a ricer. Mine doesn't work right - so I use a handheld grater that works like a charm. Even for those little slaves of mine...

Little Helpers

Riced potatoes

 

It's hard work, but fun work. You really want to get them all riced while they're still warm. 

Next, once they are all riced, mix in the butter, salt (sugar, if you so choose) and whipping cream.  This step is best to do while it's still warm. 

 

 



 Do NOT add the flour yet! (I learned that the hard way one year and tossed out an entire batch of 10lbs of potatoes)

Let them sit until they are cooled off to room temperature.

NOW, you can add the flour. (Only, and only when you're ready to actually form the balls and roll out...)

And once you mix in the flour, it's time to make the balls. You can make those any size you want, really. I've played around and our family seems to like our lefse bigger. Naturally, then, we make the balls of potatoes and flour bigger.

Now comes the fun part of rolling! And here is where I get REALLY messy.  Flour is the key!  You need to mess up those clean tools (Oh, yeah, you'll need a lefse flipper and corrugated rolling pin)

Before you begin rolling, however, turn the griddle to 400 degrees. Sprinkle some flour on it and once it's brown, you know you're ready.


Lefse flipper (new one because my last two were used as swords) and rolling pins

 

 

almost ready...

Little helpers rolling out the lefse dough

 

The trick to rolling out the dough is short, gentle movements. As my kids learned, you can't use too much pressure or your dough will simply stick to the counter (or whatever you're rolling on)



Now comes the tough part of getting that beautiful little lefse circle off the counter. And here's where all that flour comes in. I flour the heck out of the rolling pin and the counter. And the dough. And apparently, myself. Anytime it starts to get sticky (like the longer it sits) I add flour. And more flour.






Then, time to slide that lefse flipper under the dough and get the dough onto the griddle.

Make sure the flipper is flat as possible! And then just slide it under, lift up, and then roll it off the flipper onto the griddle.




And now it cooks. Once it starts to bubble, it's time to flip. Flipping on the griddle is nothing compared to getting it peeled off the counter. Just stick the flipper under and lift. Then cook until the other side bubbles and you're done!

 

I just pile up the finished lefse on aluminum foil.

And the best for last: clean up.  It's always great fun to take a look at myself and see just how bad the flour situation is...

Travis says that I alone am the reason aprons were invented. You should see the flour hand prints on my butt!  The dog is covered in flour, the cat has a streak down his forehead, and anything and everything I touched during this entire process is white.

So clean up time begins. And the ultimate worst is that corrugated rolling pin. Sure, it makes the lefse all pretty and such, but it's a naughty word to clean up. So there I sat, at 12:30am, scrubbing. And swearing. And using a sharp knife to poke the dough out of the little crevices. But it's done.

The lefse's done.

And my kitchen looks like nothing happened at all.