T-minus 1 and Lefse making
Nov. 25th, 2020 06:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouse Without our usual guests arriving for Thanksgiving, we are trying some new things this year.
Firstly, we are going to attempt to home make our lefse. Because it has such a fearsome reputation, normally, we just buy it. For my out of town and international friends, lefse is (as cribbed from Wikipedia): "Lefse (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈlɛ̀fsə]) is a traditional soft Norwegian flatbread. It is made with potatoes (often, but not always), flour, butter, and milk or cream. It is cooked on a large, flat griddle. Special tools are used to prepare lefse, including long wooden turning sticks and special rolling pins with deep grooves."
This year, we sprung for all the equipment!
Image: A lefse grill, grooved rolling pin, lefse stick (for flipping), and a cloth-covered pastry board for rolling.
For our first year, we decided to buy lefse mix which, purists will tell you is a TERRIBLE idea because the potatoes are flaked and not fresh. I suspect the purists have a point. However, our thought is that we will try this the traditional way once we have a handle on the rest of the process. When using flaked potatoes, you have to reconstitute the mashed potatoes and mix in the second half of the mix and chill it over night. So, we did that part last night.
We formed them into balls and stuck them in the fridge overnight, per instructions.
Image: round dough balls in overnight container.
Shawn had collected a lot of blogs that talked about how to roll the lefse. Most of the advice can be summed up as, "When you're think you're done rolling, roll some more." The thing you want from lefse is thinness. I managed to roll the lefse thin enough that I could read the writing on the pastry board's cloth through the dough.
Then, you used a fancy lefse stick to pick up the dough.
image: lefse stick under dough. Dough rolled so thin "your in-laws will never come back"
Then came the truly tricky part, moving the lefse onto the lefse grill. We had this set up so that I could roll out right next to the stove. On the stove we had tinfoil down over the burners, our pizza stone on top of that, and then the lefse grill. We were warned that the lefse griddle would be hot--500 degrees to be precise, so we did not want any accidents. The trick with lefse is that it's rolled so thin that it rips really easily. So, you need to get it on the gril fast and somehow flat. Shawn learned the trick is to roll it off the stick.
Image: Shawn's fancy rolling technique in action.
We did about a dozen of these--there was only one complete failure. The rest looked right and the corner of one we tasted, tasted right. So? I think we have lefse, folks!
Image: a blobby mass of Norwegian flatbread. Our first lefse--not exactly my most round one, nor our best fried--but not bad!
Even if this doesn't turn out to be the greatest lefse ever made, I'm not sure we will care. Neither Shawn nor I have a Norwegian grandmother who would sit in judgement of our from the mix lefse, and both of us mostly like lefse because it is a vehicle for sugar and butter So, I feel pretty chuffed about our first attempt. Because we weren't sweating all day over potatoes, it was actually also a lot of fun and didn't take all that long. I could see doing this again!
Before you ask for the recipe, there isn't really one. We followed the directions on the lefse mix. We bought our griddle and mix from: lefsetime.com
Firstly, we are going to attempt to home make our lefse. Because it has such a fearsome reputation, normally, we just buy it. For my out of town and international friends, lefse is (as cribbed from Wikipedia): "Lefse (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈlɛ̀fsə]) is a traditional soft Norwegian flatbread. It is made with potatoes (often, but not always), flour, butter, and milk or cream. It is cooked on a large, flat griddle. Special tools are used to prepare lefse, including long wooden turning sticks and special rolling pins with deep grooves."
This year, we sprung for all the equipment!
Image: A lefse grill, grooved rolling pin, lefse stick (for flipping), and a cloth-covered pastry board for rolling.
For our first year, we decided to buy lefse mix which, purists will tell you is a TERRIBLE idea because the potatoes are flaked and not fresh. I suspect the purists have a point. However, our thought is that we will try this the traditional way once we have a handle on the rest of the process. When using flaked potatoes, you have to reconstitute the mashed potatoes and mix in the second half of the mix and chill it over night. So, we did that part last night.
We formed them into balls and stuck them in the fridge overnight, per instructions.
Image: round dough balls in overnight container.
Shawn had collected a lot of blogs that talked about how to roll the lefse. Most of the advice can be summed up as, "When you're think you're done rolling, roll some more." The thing you want from lefse is thinness. I managed to roll the lefse thin enough that I could read the writing on the pastry board's cloth through the dough.
Then, you used a fancy lefse stick to pick up the dough.
image: lefse stick under dough. Dough rolled so thin "your in-laws will never come back"
Then came the truly tricky part, moving the lefse onto the lefse grill. We had this set up so that I could roll out right next to the stove. On the stove we had tinfoil down over the burners, our pizza stone on top of that, and then the lefse grill. We were warned that the lefse griddle would be hot--500 degrees to be precise, so we did not want any accidents. The trick with lefse is that it's rolled so thin that it rips really easily. So, you need to get it on the gril fast and somehow flat. Shawn learned the trick is to roll it off the stick.
Image: Shawn's fancy rolling technique in action.
We did about a dozen of these--there was only one complete failure. The rest looked right and the corner of one we tasted, tasted right. So? I think we have lefse, folks!
Image: a blobby mass of Norwegian flatbread. Our first lefse--not exactly my most round one, nor our best fried--but not bad!
Even if this doesn't turn out to be the greatest lefse ever made, I'm not sure we will care. Neither Shawn nor I have a Norwegian grandmother who would sit in judgement of our from the mix lefse, and both of us mostly like lefse because it is a vehicle for sugar and butter So, I feel pretty chuffed about our first attempt. Because we weren't sweating all day over potatoes, it was actually also a lot of fun and didn't take all that long. I could see doing this again!
Before you ask for the recipe, there isn't really one. We followed the directions on the lefse mix. We bought our griddle and mix from: lefsetime.com
no subject
Date: 2020-11-26 12:46 am (UTC)-- not Norwegian, but impressed
no subject
Date: 2020-11-27 04:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-11-26 05:01 am (UTC)Used to be, you could buy them at the IGA in Junction City. No idea if that's still true, though I'm sure somebody's selling them at Scandinavian Festival. If they ever get to have one again.
no subject
Date: 2020-11-27 04:46 pm (UTC)At any rate, we had such a good time with the mix we might continue using it. (It tasted great, don't tell the purists!)
Ma Sister
Date: 2020-11-26 02:05 pm (UTC)Happy Thanksgiving.
Re: Ma Sister
Date: 2020-11-27 04:47 pm (UTC)