I LOVE lefse — that delicious Scandinavian treat! I’ve written a fair bit about it, too, so I figured I might as well create a page of lefse lore.
Here are some recipes, stories, and miscellaneous tidbits about lefse that you might want to check out:
Lefse-Making: A Legacy, a Recipe, and a Factory
Lefse Recipe: You Asked for It
“lefse recipe no potatoes” and other miscellaneous matters
Grandma’s House, or the Fine Art of Decorating
More Lefse Suggestions, by request
What to Serve with Lefse, Plus Stories, of Course
Christmas Eve Recipes: Another Dish to Serve with Lefse
Christmas without Grandma: Eating My Way through Grief
Remember, every day’s a lefse day!! (well, er, okay, not really if it’s hot out and not really unless you have time to boil some fresh potatoes…but you get the idea.
I always use potatoes when we make lefse. However, when an aunt went to Norway, she brought back a family recipe that did not use potatoes. They called it trondelag lefse, not potatkake (sp?). My mother and I tried it and it was cracker like. My aunt was called and she said yes it was supposed to be that way, but they spread butter and/or cream and sugar on it, put it in the freezer and it softened. We still have not been sucessful. My neighbor remembers and older woman doing this with lefse, but doesn’t remember enough for us to copy this technique. He said it was delicious and were we going to try that type again? I don’t know……
There are as many lefse recipes as there are families (and then we are talking about individual families, not clans!). I come from Trondelag (it’s the region around Trondheim), and we have lefse with and without potatoes here. The one with potato is much harder, but not like crackers – more like not-quite-soft tortillas, I think (but tortillas may be different over there than here!).
I don’t bake lefse myself so I don’t know the tricks, unfortunately. in any case making a good lefse needs practice – the fault may very well be at the baker, not at the recipe
I was in Trondheim this summer, researching my family history for a book I am writing. I visited the folk museum there and had a lovely chat with a young woman working at the museum. NO lefse to sample there! But at the Oslo folk museum, there was lefse to taste. That was the first flour-based lefse I had tried. It was delicious!
I came over from Ginny’s blog, saw the lefse thing, and a post about snow, and thought just maybe you were in Minnesota. My wife is from the land of 10,000 lakes, and has eaten more than her fair share of lefse. Managed to steer clear of the lutefisk for the most part, however. Oh well. We have relatives in your neck of the woods, so it’s cool . . .
And English professor, eh? I’m currently majoring in English/Creative Writing & Philosophy. So maybe I’ll hang around for a bit . . .