The following text is excerpted and slightly adapted from my debut book, Modern Scandinavian Baking: A Cookbook of Sweet Treats and Savory Bakes, now available. Post includes affiliate links; read more by clicking here.
In her later years, Grandma Adeline’s hands revealed her age. Skin like vellum covered her swollen knuckles, and heavy gold rings spun loosely on thinning fingers. But when she would make potato lefse—a traditional Norwegian flatbread—those same hands were anything but frail.
As Grandma worked flour into a bowl of riced potatoes, her strength and muscle memory far outshone her weak bones and aging body. She had been a professional lefse baker, after all.
I learned to bake lefse and many other Scandinavian and family recipes from her. As we baked–Grandma, Mom, and I together in the kitchen–I’d ask questions, trying to coax out her history. Grandma wasn’t great with details, but I cherished the stories that would emerge as her hands moved, as though resuming those old baking techniques released something in her aging mind.
Grandma was determined to teach Mom and me to make this soft potato flatbread properly. Whenever I see lefse recipes in cookbooks, I feel slightly bad for the reader who attempts to make it without a Norwegian grandma by their side, as it’s very rooted in technique and practice.
In the recipe that follows, I’ve attempted to provide the next best thing with detailed instructions, and I’m delighted to share the tradition with you.
Note that you will need to start this recipe the day before you plan to bake.
Bonus: I’ve created a resource full of lefse-baking equipment, along with many other specialty ingredients, tools, and equipment to help you add a Scandinavian touch to your home. Click here to find it.
Grandma Adeline’s Lefse
Ingredients
- 10 pounds russet potatoes
- 1 1/2 sticks butter
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 4 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- 3 teaspoons salt
- 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour plus more for rolling the dough
- Butter at room temperature, for serving
- Sugar for serving
- Cinnamon for serving
Instructions
Day 1
- Rinse and peel the potatoes, then place them in a large pot of boiling, salted water until cooked through—you want them to be thoroughly tender but not over- cooked. Remove the potatoes from the heat and drain well.
- When the potatoes are cool enough to touch, press them through a ricer, then measure 12 packed cups into a large bowl. Reserve the rest for another use.
- In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Stir in the cream, sugar, and salt. Pour the butter over the pota- toes and stir to incorporate. When the mixture has cooled, cover and refrigerate it overnight.
Day 2
- An hour or so before you’re ready to get started, remove the potatoes from the refrigerator and let them come to room temperature.
- Mix in the flour, using your hands to work all the ingre- dients together and massage out any lumps.
- Shape the dough into balls about 2 inches in diam- eter and flatten them into disks, making sure they’re solid and smooth without cracks. Place them on cookie sheets lined with waxed paper, and keep them in the refrigerator while you work—you want the dough to stay cool, so only remove about six disks at a time.
- Set up your lefse rolling station and preheat a griddle or two large skillets. You’ll need a surface on which to roll the lefse—I’d recommend a flour-covered pastry board, a rolling pin (ideally a cloth-covered corrugated one), a thin spatula or a turning stick, and a brush for removing excess flour. Sprinkle flour liberally over the board and rolling pin and rub it in to prevent the dough from sticking. (You’ll repeat this when you’re finished rolling each piece of dough—keeping a bowl full of flour at your workspace is helpful.)
- Dip both sides of a dough disk into the flour, then place it on the board. Roll the lefse, using a medium touch, going in different directions to make a thin circle.
- Gently slide a lefse stick or heat-proof spatula under the lefse, a couple of inches from the edge. Carefully roll it over the stick to remove it from the board and transfer it to the hot griddle. (It’s important to not let the lefse sit on the board long after rolling it, or it will stick.) When bubbles start to form on the surface of the lefse, lift up a corner to see if it is ready. There should be some brown spots on the underside. Flip and cook the other side.
- Transfer the lefse to waxed paper, and brush the flour off the finished lefse and the griddle. Cover the finished flatbreads with a clean tea towel while working to keep them soft. Flour the board and the rolling pin, and repeat with the remaining dough disks.
- To serve, spread a warm lefse with butter and dust with sugar and cinnamon. Roll it up and cut it into 11/2-inch- long pieces, or fold it into sixths.
Notes
Excerpt from Modern Scandinavian Baking, by Daytona Strong, published by Rockridge Press. Copyright © 2020 by Callisto Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
Find this and even more sweet and savory treats in my cookbook Modern Scandinavian Baking!
11 thoughts on “Grandma Adeline’s Lefse”
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I love seeing the recipes you post, but I am curious. Does no one else make lefse without cream and butter? My Norwegian Grandma, Clara Berg, taught me to make lefse with only potatoes, a bit of salt, and just enough flour to make it rollable. This is the recipe passed down from mother to daughter in my family, just about forever. When I have made it with dairy, it seems it needs a day or so to develop the “potato-y” flavor, whereas, Grandma’s recipe immediatley has that flavor. Like I say, I am just curious if anyone else’s family recipe is without dairy…
This is how my family makes lefse also. It depends on what part of the country you are from.
I have never seen a lefse recipe, that didn’t include dairy. I’ve always wondered why… My family came from the Heidel valley, north of Lillehammer.
Our family hasn’t ever used cream, either, only butter, but I’m going to try this recipe’s additions! Seems like it would make my lefse even more tender.
I learned to bake it with both my grandmas, and my parents and I make it every year. Trying to pass it down to my kids, as well as it’s a treasured memory for me.
I just wanted to drop by to say I plan to get the rolling pin and covet to honor your grandmother’s legacy.
I LOVE your cookbook. I am already waiting for your next one! More baking treats is always a good thing, especially your Scandinavian ones. Coming from a Scottish pie baker, that is high praise indeed!
Cheers,
Anne
Thank you so much for this recipe. I enjoy all your emails and posts a lot, they make me feel more connected to my father and my Norwegian relatives.
Has anyone tried to make lefse with gluten-free cup-for-cup type flour? If so, does it work?
I also made lefse with my grandmtoher and mother for many years in Wisconsin and Minnesota .. After we made the potato mixture, we put a Terry cloth towel over the mixture then plastic wrap and kept it refrigerated over night. this brings all the moisture out so you don’t have to add so much flour. We never added all the flour at the same time. the more flour you add the less potato taste. Adding the flour also depends on the humidity of the day. We rolled out the mixture in a log then cut the pieces and kept refrigerated until using one at a time. Other then that we followed your recipe. We also had a very different rummegrot recipe than you but that can be a different reply. Thanks, Charles Hovland
This is an interesting comment, because it gives an explanation for overnight refrigeration: reduction of moisture. Thank you. I really appreciate it when recipes say *why* certain choices are made.
I learned to make lefse from one of my aunts, and we also did not use dairy – just potatoes, salt & flour. Depends what part of the country you are from.
This is the recipe I use. It’s from a church cookbook from Minnesota. My sister uses a recipe from our family that has no dairy. I prefer mine (and yours). Never heated the butter, cream, salt, and sugar together. Sounds like a great idea! Thank you for sharing your recipes!