A soft, thin potato flatbread cooked on a hot griddle until freckled with brown spots, then folded around butter and sugar or cinnamon. A Norwegian household staple and the classic wrap for lutefisk, lefse is made with special grooved rolling pins and long turning sticks.
A traditional soft Norwegian flatbread with strong regional variation, lefse is the classic accompaniment to lutefisk and was carried to America by Norwegian immigrants.
Pillowy, tender and faintly sweet from the potato, lefse has a gentle griddled aroma and a delicate chew. Warm with butter and sugar melting inside, it eats like the softest, most comforting crepe.
Riced cold potato keeps the dough low in developed gluten, so only minimal flour is needed and the bread stays tender; the very hot griddle sets it fast before it can dry out.
Variations
lefse-klenning with butter and sugar, thin tynnlefse from central Norway, with cinnamon, rolled with brunost
On the Palate
Where Lefse sits in the Norwegian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8How it's made
7 steps · 40 min
- 125 min
Boil and rice the potatoes, then let them cool completely (ideally overnight).
Watch outChill the riced potato completely, ideally overnight — warm potato needs far more flour and bakes up tough instead of tender.
- 25 min
Mix the riced potato with butter, cream and salt until smooth.
- 35 min
Work in just enough flour to form a soft dough that can be rolled thin.
- 415 min
Divide into balls and roll each out very thinly on a floured board with a grooved rolling pin.
- 53 min
Transfer with a long lefse stick to a hot dry griddle and cook until pale brown spots appear.
Watch outThe griddle has to be screaming hot and dry — you want pale brown freckles in seconds; too cool and the round dries out stiff before it colors.
- 63 min
Flip and cook the other side briefly, then stack the cooked rounds under a cloth to stay soft.
- 73 min
Spread with butter and sugar (or cinnamon), fold or roll up, and serve.
