2 1/2 pounds (6 to 8) boiling potatoes
1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons light cream
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup flour
Peel and boil 6 to 8 potatoes until very tender; drain, mash, and measure 4 cups. (Reserve the water for making potato bread, if desired.) Add butter, cream, milk, salt, and pepper, and mash again until very creamy. Chill lightly covered with waxed paper or cloth 2 to 4 hours or until well chilled. Add the cup of flour to the dough and work in well with hands. (Do not add flour before you refrigerate. Lefse must be made immediately after flour is added.)
It will be much easier to roll lefse if you use a pastry cloth and a stocking on your rolling pin which have been well seasoned with flour from previous use. Measure 1/4 cup of dough, form it in a ball, and put it on the pastry cloth on which is 1 tablespoon of flour from previous use. Measure 1/4 cup of dough, form it in a ball, and put it on the pastry cloth, and try again.
Have a well-seasoned cast-iron griddle. Do not grease. If you have an electric burner with eight settings, a No. 3 is just right for lefse—but better to have the heat too low than too high. Using a wide metal spatula or lefse stick, if you have one, lift the circle of lefse up from the pastry cloth on one side, using your other hand to help lift it on the other side, and carry it to the griddle. Prick the dough in four or five places with the corner of the spatula. let it bake for about a minute or until it bubbles in the middle, turn it carefully, and cook it for 45 seconds on the other side. If the heat is correct, it should still be very pale, with just a few flecks of brown. Turn again, then keep decreasing the turning time until you are turning about every 5 seconds, for a total of about 3 minutes. When done it should be dry on both sides but still tender and pliable; it should be pale brown flecked. Remove lefse to a dry dish towel and let cool. Wipe griddle with dry cloth between each lefse.
When cool, the circles can be piled up on each other. Store in a covered tin, overnight if desired, until ready to serve. To serve, halve them, spread with soft butter, and roll into coned-shaped rolls. Arrange the lefse on a decorative platter and serve as bread. Lefse freezes beautifully. It can be made several weeks ahead for special occasions. Just place in plastic bags and freeze. Then thaw several hours before serving at room temperature. Serves 6 to 8.
The Nine Days of Christmas
When today's children think of Christmas, they think of gifts. When I was a child I thought of food and celebrations. Gifts were the least part of my childhood Christmases. But the celebrations! That was a different matter.
The active festivities get into full swing in the midafternoon of Christmas Eve when my father brings in the tree and sets it up in the front room. Norwegian tradition holds that the tree must not be decorated until Christmas Eve. My mother is still in the kitchen baking the last piece of Christmas lefse on the top of her cast-iron cookstove—a task she has been at since morning. In a few minutes the pungent scent of damp pine mingles with the aroma of fresh lefse, and we know that Christmas week has started in earnest.
Carrie Young and Felicia Young, Prairie Cooks
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