Tasty Norwegian flatbread lefse makes delightful holiday dessert

There are lots of Norwegians in Maine, and I am going to make a bet that a fair number of them make lefse for holiday dinners. I first had lefse when a neighbor of mine, Craig Olson, made his usual batch for Christmas Eve supper, and Jamie and I were invited. It is a flatbread made from potatoes and flour with a bit of salt and cream or oil in it. Lefse is rolled out until it is quite thin and quickly baked on a flat griddle. Think of it as a Scandinavian tortilla. Craig learned to make lefse from his grandmother, Thela Olson, who used to make a big batch before Thanksgiving, when she served it, and then froze half of it for Christmas.

Many Norwegian-Americans have lefse and lutefisk at Christmas. Lutefisk is controversial stuff. It is dried cod (not salted) soaked in an alkaline solution, usually diluted lye, (which always alarms everyone, but it really isn’t caustic to eat), then it is cooked and served. One time I saw a coffee mug with the phrase, “Lutefisk, the piece of cod that passeth all understanding.” In some places with high concentrations of Norwegians and other Scandinavians, however, public lutefisk suppers are common and people who really like it are happy to show up for it. Craig says he finds the lutefisk too fishy for him and he thinks it is mainly a vehicle for melted butter.

Lefse, on the other hand, is unobjectionable, and is really easy to make. While lefse may have been a daily bread for some Norwegians in the past, like lots of ethnic dishes, it is now made for holidays as a remembrance of a family’s heritage. The Olsons have theirs with butter and cranberry sauce on it, but like crepes, it can also be a savory if you have a meat or seafood filling for it.

Learning to handle it takes a little practice. It helps greatly if the potatoes are quite cool when you add the flour, and if the dough is kept chilled until you are ready to make the breads. A flat griddle is handy, too, and real Norwegians use a lefse stick, a long wooden blade with a flat and tapered end to slip under the breads to turn them over. I used the longest spatula I have, the one I used for icing a cake, and it worked fine. Craig described how his grandmother adeptly flattened each ball of the dough with the heel of her hand, before rolling it out with a rolling pin. He advises using an uncovered rolling pin. Flour your board or counter, and if the lefse is sticky, either while baking or drying, then you need to flour the board a bit more.

The hardest part is forming lovely, evenly round flatbreads. My first ones looked like islands with lots of coves, bays, and even a peninsula or two. I figured out it was because I didn’t have that heel-of-my-palm flattening maneuver down right. I was better off doing the initial flattening with the bottom of a mug.

Lefse cooks quickly, but not so fast that you can’t get another one ready for the griddle before one is done. Turn them when the bottom begins to show a few brown spots; they get pillowy little bubbles here and there. To turn them on the griddle, slide your spatula or stick under the center, lift it, and lay the uncooked side down, starting on the edge of the griddle and turning the spatula until the lefse is all spread out again. To cool them, lift them up again in the center, set them on a dry, clean towel, and cover them. They will stay tender and pliable.

For a dessert, you can spread the lefse with butter, sprinkle cinnamon sugar all over it and roll them up. Or you can serve them cut in half, with butter or brown sugar or jam. Or as the Olsons do, serve with cranberry sauce.

Looking for…

Many thanks for the tourtiere recipes. I hope someone has a nice Florentine cookie or bar recipe – the one I remember had a toffeelike flavor, with nut meats in it, maybe almonds, and some melted chocolate drizzled on it. Does this sound like something you might have a recipe for?

Send queries or answers to Sandy Oliver, 1061 Main Road, Islesboro 04848. E-mail: tastebuds@prexar.com. For recipes, tell us where they came from. List ingredients, specify number of servings and do not abbreviate measurements. Include name, address and daytime phone number.

Lefse

Yields 12 eight-inch lefse, about six to eight servings

3 cups, packed, of cooked potatoes, riced or put through a food mill.

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

5 tablespoons vegetable oil

11/2 cups flour

Mix together the potatoes, salt, sugar, and oil. Allow to cool. Knead in the flour until it is all incorporated and the dough feels smooth. Divide into 12 equal parts and roll each part into a little ball. Heat your griddle (if you have an electric one, set it for 450 F). Roll each ball in turn out into an 8- to 9-inch diameter bread; it should be very thin. Place on the ungreased griddle. When it bubbles and browns, turn it. Then when it bubbles and browns a little on that side, lift it off the griddle, and leaving it folded in half, lay it on a tea towel, covered with another towel.