Learning to Make Lefse

Having lived in Minnesota for many years, I am well-acquanted with Scandinavian Christmas traditions, including lefse. I have eaten it many times, but never had the chance to try making it until a week ago. While I was visiting my sister in Montana, we joined a Norwegian friend of hers for a lefse-making lesson!

Note: you will see three different pairs of hands in this series of photos. It's not your imagination.

Ms. C. had made the dough the day before, formed it into logs, wrapped it in plastic wrap, and refrigerated it overnight. Once we arrived, she took the logs out one at a time and cut them up into sections about two inches wide.

The next step was to sprinkle a little flour on both sides of a section of dough, and pat it into a small round. We used a special board and cloth made just for this purpose.

Then we did our best to roll it into a thin, round shape, without getting it so thin it would begin to tear. See that bowl of flour to the side? We sprinkled the dough with it periodically so it wouldn't stick. Flour gets all over the bakers and all over the kitchen when one is making lefse!

The rolling pin is a special kind with many little indentations all over it, and then a cloth sleeve to prevent the dough from getting packed into the indentations. That would be beastly to try to clean up!

That thin wooden stick in the background (which reminds me of a paint stirring stick from the hardware store) is used to transfer the lefse from the cloth-covered board to the lefse griddle. Alas, I didn't take a picture of that process; I was too busy watching to see how it worked! It's a bit tricky, sliding the stick underneath the rolled-out lefse and then lifting it carefully over to the griddle and unrolling it gently off the stick. It took a second try before I got it to end up in the center of the griddle.

While one piece of lefse baked on the griddle, we started rolling out the next one. The lefse needed to be turned with the long stick when it got lightly browned, which required some peeking while it cooked.

The finished product was transferred with the stick to a clean towel, which was then folded over to keep the lefse warm. As you can see, they didn't all end up perfectly round, but that doesn't affect the flavor. We spread butter on a piece, sprinkled sugar on it, rolled it up, and ate it. I didn't get a picture of that step, either, because I was too busy enjoying the lefse treat and licking my fingers!

All photos taken on my Android phone.