They don't call us Norwegian for nothin'...

Lefse 

Thin, Unleavened bread of Norwegian origin, 

traditionally made of a potato-based dough and baked on a griddle.

Truth be told, making Lefse can be pure chaos .

The sticky, gooey dough is a mess to handle, until it's gotten to the "just right" consistency. 

Then comes the rolling-out of the lefse... that's considered a fine art.

and lets talk countertops....

 it's as if a slew of toddlers blew through the kitchen, playing in flour and starting a food fight.

These days, with the abundance of commercial lefse available, it's the 

rare family that makes their own lefse.

Probably for a good reason....

Being the 1/2 Norwegian girl that I am, it's in my blood to carry on the tradition of lefse making, I have all the equipment, and I really do enjoy the challenge of making a perfect piece of lefse. 

 This year I was invited to a Lefse making party with a group of friends from work, 

We crafted our lefse in a huge shed just outside of Blooming Prairie. 

  

My Friend, and co-worker Mary (front black t-shirt) was the host. 

There is equipment involved, 

Pastry clothes, grooved rolling pins, lefse turning sticks, griddles, pasty socks and the all important... 

Potato ricer

Here my friends Sarah & Mary are putting together the recipe

Potato's, oil, flour, salt and sugar.... and more flour. 

My friend Renee rolled her dough into cute little balls

She's a little "type A"

My group....logs, which we then cut into 10 smaller pieces

Now there's a thinly rolled out piece, ready for the griddle.
Lots of flour was worked into the round pasty cloth and the pastry sock on the roller
to prevent any sticking of the dough.

It only takes about 1 minute of cook time on each side 

Notice my "flipping technique"

Fun facts: There were 10 of us gathered to make lefse, We had 4 lefse grills fired up, we used 40 pounds of Potato's, and made 21 dozen slices of Lefse.
WOWZA!

Production line

Finished product

all bagged up

These are the 6 girls that I work with, we have so much fun together, 

Our skills are precise, from carefully guiding needles into peoples backs to collect spinal fluid, 

to rolling delicate dough into paper thin circles....ha

I feel quite blessed to have this close relationship with my co-workers.  

We are hoping to keep this a tradition, lot's of fun was had by all!