Submitted by Linda Grieme
“My mother knew nothing about lefse when she married my half-Norwegian father. He felt it was one of life’s necessities (and should match his memories of lefse his grandma used to make on the top of a wood-burning stove–she fed in corncobs to keep the temperature just right!). It was a frustrating learning experience for my mother till she got some tutelage from women in our church who were masters of the art.”
10 pounds Russet potatoes = about 14 cooked riced cups and ~48 lefse (Russet potatoes work best because they are drier)

Special equipment:
Potato ricer
Lefse rolling pin (a regular rolling pin will work)
Flour shaker
Lefse stick
Lefse grill

Potato Mixture:
7 cups cooked riced potatoes
1/3 cup softened butter
1 scant tablespoon salt

Lefse Mixture:
6 cups potato mixture
2 cups flour

Potato preparation:
Peel and cook potatoes. Drain very well (shake pan over low heat). Mash, then rice, getting rid of small lumps and strings inside ricer. Measure 7 cups cooked riced potatoes, 1/3 cup butter, and 1 scant tablespoon salt. Mix with electric mixer (requires a powerful one like a Kitchen Aid) or with hands. Cover and chill in refrigerator overnight.

Lefse mixture: Mix 6 cups potato mix and 2 cups flour with electric mixer until flour is barely mixed in. Measure 1/3 cup amounts; form into patties, not too many at a time. Put on floured towel on a cookie sheet until rolled. Refrigerate rest of mixture.

Rolling:

Work on a pastry cloth. Sprinkle cloth and lefse rolling pin with flour. (I use the special flour shaker so the flour doesn’t get too heavy). Pick up a lefse-mix patty and dip both sides in a dish of flour; then pat down on cloth with hand, rounding edges. Roll with rolling pin from center toward edges in all directions; when 8 or 9 inch diameter, use lefse stick to lift up. Sprinkle cloth with more flour, then turn over half-rolled lefse back onto cloth. Lightly sprinkle lefse and rolling pin with flour then finish rolling lefse, as thin as possible (10-12 inches in diameter). Slide lefse stick under rolled lefse to make sure no part is sticking to cloth.

Baking:
Have lefse grill heated to 450°. Slide lefse stick halfway under rolled lefse and lift it to the grill. Bake just until there are light brown spots on under side, turn over and finish baking — doesn’t take long. DO NOT OVERBAKE!

Cooling:
Stack baked lefse on 1/2 of a towel and cover with other half of towel or with another towel. Continue to stack one on top of another till there are about 12. This allows them to steam through and keeps edges from getting dry. Turn stack to steam top few lefse; start another stack. After the first stack has steamed awhile, fold each lefse in quarters and lay out to cool on a towel. When cool, stack 6 to 8 on top of each other and put into plastic bags (zip lock are good). Store in freezer.