Norwegian Flatbread Recipes

NORWEGIAN FLAT BREAD (UNLEAVENED BREAD)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Stir flour and salt together in a bowl. Cut butter into flour mixture with a fork or pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir milk into mixture and knead with hands to form dough.
• Turn dough out onto a lightly-floured work surface and roll to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut dough into sandwich-size pieces and poke each piece several times with a fork. Transfer slices to a baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until just golden brown, about 30 minutes.

NORWEGIAN POTATO FLATBREAD (LEFSE)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line an oven-safe skillet or baking pan with aluminum foil.
• Poke the potato skin all over with a knife and place on the prepared pan.
• Roast in the preheated oven until very tender and easily pierced with a knife, about 1 hour. Let sit until cool enough to handle but still very warm.
• Scoop potato flesh out into a bowl. Mash smooth with the back of a spatula until there are no lumps left. You can also use a potato ricer. Add the butter and mix until it disappears. Add the salt, sugar, and cream; mix until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.
• Mix in flour in several additions until the dough is able to be kneaded by hand. Add enough flour to form a soft, but not too sticky, dough. You need to be able to roll it out fairly thin without it falling apart.
• Wrap dough with plastic and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.
• Divide dough into 8 portions. Dust each with flour and roll out onto a well-floured kitchen towel to 1/8-inch thick, or thinner.
• Heat a very lightly buttered nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Cook the lefse in the hot pan, poking the surface lightly with a fork, until golden brown blisters form, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Stack on a plate as they're cooked and keep covered with a towel. Serve warm.

NORWEGIAN FLAT BREAD

Steps:

• In a large bowl combine the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, oil, baking soda, and salt. Add enough buttermilk to make a stiff dough.
• Knead dough for 30 seconds on a well-floured surface.
• Cover dough to prevent drying. Roll 1/4 cup handfuls of dough into balls and pat into a flat circle. Using a rolling pin, flatten dough into 10 inch circles. Place onto ungreased cookie sheet. Score pieces into pie shapes by running a knife along but not through dough. Repeat process with remaining dough.
• Bake in a preheated 350 degree F (175 degrees C) oven for 8 to 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack briefly before breaking along scored lines.

BASIC LEFSE: NORWEGIAN POTATO FLATBREAD

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Preheat the oven to 175 F. Peel the potatoes, making sure that no peels or eyes remain. Coarsely chop them into 1-inch pieces.
• In a stockpot, bring water to a boil and add the potatoes. Boil them until they are fork-tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.
• Drain the boiled potatoes well. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bring them into the hot oven for 15 minutes to dry them further.
• Remove the potatoes from the oven and pass them through a ricer . You need them to be finely riced, so twice through the ricer might give you a better texture. You should have at least 4 cups of riced potatoes.
• Mix in the heavy cream, butter, sugar, and salt.
• Mix well and place the potato dough in the refrigerator, covered, to chill overnight.
• Preheat a lefse griddle or your skillet of choice to 425 F. You need a very hot surface to properly cook the lefse. Use a pastry blender to cut the flour into the chilled potatoes, or vigorously knead the flour in until you have a smooth dough.
• With the help of an ice cream scoop, divide the dough into 16 to 20 biscuit-sized balls.
• Generously flour a pastry cloth or board and a rolling pin. Roll out each piece of dough into a 12-inch circle, dusting with more flour as needed.
• Carefully lift the circle with a lefse stick or the handle of a flat wooden spatula. Transfer it quickly to the griddle.
• Cook the lefse on the griddle until brown spots begin to appear.
• Flip and cook the other side.
• Remove the cooked lefse to a plate lined with a damp clean cloth to cool. Cover with another damp cloth. Continue to cook the remaining dough balls until you've used all of the dough.
• Serve the lefse smeared with butter to taste and a sprinkle or two of sugar.
• Enjoy.

NORWEGIAN FLATBREADS

Steps:

• In medium saucepan over high heat, combine potatoes and cold water to cover. Cover and bring to boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain well and force potatoes through ricer or food mill into large bowl. Stir in butter. Add salt and cream and stir until smooth. Add flour and stir until dough forms (do not overmix). Cover and chill at least 6 hours and up to 3 days.
• In small bowl, whisk together sugar and cinnamon. Lightly oil 10-inch cast iron skillet and set over moderately low heat. Have ready rolling pin, pastry bench scraper, and thin metal spatula.
• Turn dough out onto well-floured work surface. Using pastry bench scraper, cut in half and return half to bowl. Cut other piece in half again; cut 1 piece into 8 small pieces and reserve other piece.
• Pat 1 small piece to flatten. Dough may be very soft and sticky, depending on moisture content of potato - add some of 3 cups flour as needed to prevent sticking. Using scraper, flip dough over and pat again to flatten. Roll patty out to 7-inch circle.
• Using pastry bench scraper, carefully transfer flatbread to hot skillet and cook until dough bubbles and is beginning to brown underneath, less than 1 minute. Using thin, flexible metal spatula, flip flatbread over and cook other side until lightly brown, about 1 minute. Transfer to plate and brush off any excess flour. Scrape any excess flour out of skillet.
• Repeat rolling and cooking with 8 small pieces of dough, then divide remaining piece of dough on counter into 8 pieces and roll and cook each piece. Repeat process with remaining dough in bowl to make 32 flatbreads.
• To serve, brush warm lefse with melted butter, sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar, and roll up. Serve warm.

NORWEGIAN FLAT BREAD

Steps:

• Heat oven to 400º.
• In large bowl combine whole wheat flour, sugar, butter and water. Let stand 5 minutes.
• Stir in all remaining ingredients using enough flour to make dough easy to handle.
• Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead until smooth (5 minutes).
• Divide dough in half; shape each half into 12x2 1/2 inch roll.
• Cut each roll into 12 portions.
• On lightly floured surface roll each portion to 1/8 inch thickness (flat breads will be irregular in shape).
• Place on cookie sheets.
• Bake 10 to 13 minutes or until golden brown.

LEFSE- NORWEGIAN FLAT BREAD

Steps:

• Peel and cut potatoes. Boil in well salted water until soft. Use more salt than you normally would. You do not want to add salt once they are cooked as it will not dissolve as well.
• Drain well and return to pot. Steam for a few minutes to ensure all water has been evaporated.
• Measure out 4 cups of potatoes, packed well. Rice potatoes now while potatoes are still hot. You may have potatoes left over.
• Place riced potatoes in a plastic bowl with a good sealing lid. Add butter and milk and mash with a HAND masher. Do NOT use an electric mixer as it will get sticky.
• Allow to cool on the counter until potatoes are at room temperature then place several paper towels on top, seal tightly with the lid and place in the refrigerator overnight.
• Next day: Much easier to work with. Mix in flour and sugar and form into small balls. Now roll them out thin and flat using a rolling pin, preferably one with grooves and covered with a sock. You can just cut an old CLEAN sock and slide it over the rolling pin.
• Using a lefse stick or a long flat stick or long thin spatula roll the raw lefse around the stick and then unroll onto a HOT griddle (450 degrees) Flip once the first side starts to form bubbles and is lightly browned or freckled. Cook other side just until lightly browned.
• Using stick again remove lefse from griddle to a towel and place a towel on top to keep them warm and pliable.
• Eat warm or store in the refrigerator in a well sealed container lined with more paper towels. Can also be frozen with waxed paper between each lefse.