Monday, December 29, 2008

Lefse - part II

Good Morning all!!! The Milk Man is sitting here eating Lefse this morning - his words "If you dont eat Lefse there is somthing seriously wrong in the world". SO, here is the rest of my attempt to show you how to make Lefse. I have to apologize, I am probably not the best teacher - I hope I give you good enough instructions and examples to assist you on doing this.

Once you have let it all cool in the fridge its time to fry it.

First you roll it out with a lefse pin.



The grooves are put into a rolling pin so that you have an opportunity to swear like a sailer every time the lefse get stuck in them....wait - thats not right. They are there because it helps to even the texture and thickness of the lefse. If you use a regular rolling pin, it will be tough. I roll my lefse out onto a dishtowel that has been floured. When I say floured, I mean I put flour onto it and have 'rubbed' it into the fibers so that the lefse wont stick AND so that there is not to much flour left on the rolled sheet of Lefse. As I said before, to much flour makes for VERY DRY lefse. Here are some pictures - I think this will help you figure it out better than me explaining more of it!

See in the second picture you cant see much flour.. Its got the dishtowel 'pregnant' *snicker* Its litterly into the fibers. I could use a pastry thingy, but I dont have one. It is nessicary to reflour your dishtowel at times, but always rub it in.
Once you have this done you take make a ball of Lefse - about the size of 2 golf balls. Roll it around in the flour on your dish towel or pastry sheet till it has a light coating of flour - not a lot of flour ok....

You can make them small if you want to. To start with that may be the best, but make your own judgement on that one. Now I put flour on each side, top and bottom of my dish towel because when you roll Lefse you DONT ROLL IT BACK AND FORTH!!! You roll it away from you, pick it up and roll it a differant direction. IF you roll it back IT WILL STICK causing you great anguish at the loss of non sticking lefse to your rolling pin!! I dont use the handles of the rolling pin either, put your hands on the pin and LIGHTLY press down, let the wieght of the pin do the work. Roll off of the sheet of lefse into the little bit of flour. I do this because when I roll it again, the roller wont stick... it is tricky and takes LOTS of trial and error. I have been doing this for a long time and it STILL STICKS at times.
Sorry if I get a bit long winded or over do it - I really want you to be successful doing this. I know how frustrating it is to make somthing that is labor intensive and have it flop on you! I dont want you to get discouraged - this TAKES TIME to learn. See how good I am at making big letters..... ok back to business.

In a couple of pictures you will see lefse stuck to my rolling pin. I call those pieces, well I cant write what I call those pieces because this is a family blog and those words should not be used around family. That is why the Milk Man takes Lispy and Big Son with him when I am making Lefse.....
We are finally ready, after all this, to roll out the Lefse. First take your ball of Lefse and get it ready...



Then roll it one way, away from you...



Then GENTLY turn it over...


Then roll your little heart out. I roll one way pick it up and roll another. You CAN roll it towards yourself, but always, always, always pick it up. In the next picture you will see the flour on the side of the towel - I use that for re flouring my pin. Roll it in the flour and tap it off, it gives you just enough flour for a couple of rolls, without overdoing it on the flour....


I heard swearing, did someone just say screw this??? Dont give up yet!! We are just getting going everyone!!! There are more oportunitys yet to come!!!



This is what a rolled out sheet of Lefse looks like. It is SO TENDER, or at least should be unless you have over floured it. The honest trick to this is KEEP IT COLD. I leave EVERYTHING in the fridge. I go to the fridge each time I am going to make a ball. It sticks worse when it is to warm. Same for the flour - keep it cold and get it as you need it. I have taken a measuring cup and keep a bit of flour right next to me and that seems to work - I use one that is glass and that has been in the fridge...

Now for the frying... This is Hilda the Lefse griddle, dont mention her age - she is a bit sensative about it. This was the Milk Man's moms griddle, but she gave up on Lefse when I figured it out!



Anyway, you need to pick up your lefse from the towel with the stick, yes I said the stick. Hold the edge of the towel and GENTLY place your stick under the sheet of lefse and slide it under until you come out the other side. Sue, http://athomewiththefarmerswife.blogspot.com/ Can you help that poor soul in the back row - I think she fainted? She's ok? Thanks.. We are almost done I swear...

Lay it on the griddle...




When you first lay it on the griddle you must run your stick GENTLY under the whole thing so that it does not stick to the gridle - then just wait till it browns a little bit.


Then when it is a little bit brown - flip it over...





Then fry it till the air bubble form and thats about 1 or two....


and you are DONE DONE DONE DONE!!!
Now slather some butter on the husband, I mean Lefse, sprinkle a bit of sugar or jam on it and eat it!!!!

I am going back to bed, this has taken me way to long!!!! See you later. I may post again today, because we are doing some interesting things at the farm!!!

26 comments:

Farmchick said...

Hi --thanks for stopping by and for the comment too! I have made lefse before...years ago----even though I am Ukrainian not Norwegian!!! Hope you have a great day...stop in again soon.

Peggy said...

Can I just come to your house and eat them?? There is no way in heck I have the patience to make those yummy looking things. LOL

Betsy said...

Wow, those look amazing! I just might give them a try, but I don't have the fancy lefse tools. I'll have to improvise somehow.

gtyyup said...

Lovely looking Lefse!!! Just like my mom's...bless her.

I haven't had the desire to make Lefse since she's been gone, but I have all the tools...ok, maybe next year!

Thanks for the excellent instructions too.

Jenni said...

Um, can't I just buy this somewhere to try it? I love cooking new things, but this looks labor intensive and tricky. Plus, I don't have the stick or the special rolling pin. I do have a springerle rolling pin, but somehow I do not think that will work the same. The lefse looks very interesting, though! I love learning about and trying new foods.

Jenni said...

Okay! So I googled "lefse rolling pin" and "lefse stick" and found that amazon.com has both as well as a pastry mat for rolling them on, the griddle for cooking them, and the potato ricer. They even had one of those helpful "people who bought this also bought this" things and "buy this + this + this for this price". What did we do before Amazon and Google? Unfortunately, I did not find any premade lefse there. I think I will keep searching.

Unknown said...

I bow down to you because you must have the patience of a saint. I agree, Lefse party at Heidi's...i will bring the butter.

LOL, love you...

Marlene

Britt-Arnhild said...

It looks absolutely perfect Heidi :-) I would love to come over and eat one with you.

Anonymous said...

I can't believe you heard me. Yep, after the flour and the groovy pin I was muttering "scr*w this" LOL
I fear lefse will not be in my lifetime unless you will accept my order for a dozen. Have a fabulous day!

Suzanne said...

They look really, really good but you wonder how this recipe developed. How did they first decide to roll it so thin, and to make it out of potatoes and not just flour? Hmmm. I'm off to Ebay to see about picking up some equipment.

My mother-in-law is almost 88 and has given up on making pirogi's years ago. Unfortunately, none of us paid attention when she was giving lessons on how to make them. They just seem like way too much work for me. HA.

- Suzanne

Big Hair Envy said...

Sorry. That was ME who fainted in the back row. A cold water splash revived me:) I believe it was trying to process "Lispy" & "Lefse" in the same sentence that sent me right over the edge:/

Those look great, but I would never have the patience to make them. I'm with the others....party at your place. I'll bring the jam!

Karen Deborah said...

Norwegian tortillas they look yummy but I think I'll let you make them and someday when the frozen ice isn't blowing through your window sills I might come eat some.
You are a hoot girl, and so much fun.

krueth said...

I make lefse also. but I have a sock I put over my rolling pin, and when the boughten one wore Out, I used a men's NEW tube sock with the end cut off, works great and you dont' have the sticking in the lefse pin. I also have a fantasticly (is that a word?) easy recipe that rolls great and you don't have to keep it in the frig all the time. Love your blog though, I am a lurker most times.. Wendy from Minnesota

Anonymous said...

Just AWESOME! I don't think I'll ever attempt it, but since living her in the Northeast I haven't seen hide nor hair of lefse! So watching you make it was very cool.

Vickie said...

Hey, Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment! Without it I would have never found my way here to this interesting post of lefse. I had never heard of them and found your postings very interesting. Stop by anytime and I will certainly be back to check on things here. Take Care :)

Mrs. B said...

Looks absolutely delicious!!!!! Are you taking orders yet?

Tina Marie the Willow Witch said...

Holy cow, you are, good grief....
Well your men are lucky, lucky to have you... Saint Heidi..
I think I will just stick to our potato cakes...

Mrs. Mom said...

I agree with Peggy- can we come to your house to eat them? I'll even help do dishes!! ;)

That looks REALLY yummy though Heidi!! Eat one for me!

Love you girl! Kisses to the kids!

Big Hair Envy said...

I forgot to post the South Beach link earlier. It is now up:)

DayPhoto said...

That was really interesting. I have heard of Lefse, but never seen or eaten any.

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/

WudWerkr said...

slather butter on husband ??????

you are sooooooooooo bad !!!

i tellin !


FARMBOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Lol

Joanna@BooneDocksWilcox said...

sure wish I could try some, thanks for the instructions.

I'm not worried about the other thing, no problem, if it didn't work out at all, would be no problem. :-)

Linda said...

Lefse ... I'm guessing Scandinavian? I live near a Swedish community in Central California ... they serve this at their annual festivals. My husband claims Danish and Swedish heritage, but not until we had kids did he show any interest in some of the traditions.

But I have to tell you ... listening to your family sing ... takes me right back to some of my childhood family gatherings.

Your blog is a delight ... I'll check back often.

Karen Deborah said...

Heidi, thank you for the sweet comment. I LOVE you too, really!
Thank you for your friendship.

Stubblejumpers Café said...

Hi Heidi,

Enjoyed your tutorial, picked up a few tips I will incorporate next time I make it.
For your readers who want to try it but don't have the stick or the special rolling pin, don't despair! I don't have either of these two tools and my lefse is still good (well it's lefse! what can I say? I love lefse) or at least it's better than no lefse at all! I wouldn't make it without the ricer though, as that's essential to the texture, I'm thinking.

The W.O.W. factor! said...

Yummy! Glad it was YOU making this, I just like the eating part!