Lefse

1. 1A thin, soft, unleavened flatbread (not crisp)
2. 2Built on cooked mashed potato bound with flour (the common potetlefse)
3. 3Rolled extremely thin, often with a grooved rolling pin
4. 4Cooked on a dry, hot griddle (takke), not fried
5. 5Pliable enough to fold or roll around a filling

Rolling paper-thin

The defining thinness gives lefse its soft, foldable character; a grooved pin and lefse stick help handle the fragile sheet

Dry-griddle cooking on a takke

Cooks the thin sheet quickly with light browning while keeping it soft and pliable

Served

Spread and rolled or folded; eaten by hand

Temperature

room

Portion

snack

Pairs with

butter · sugar (often with cinnamon) · brown cheese (brunost) · cured meats · lutefisk (at Christmas)

• Butter and sugar topping → Brown cheese or cured meatadmissible

  Both sweet and savoury toppings are traditional

• Mashed potato base → Plain wheat doughinadmissible

  Removes what makes potato lefse itself, though flour-only lefse exists regionally

• Dry griddle → Deep-fryinginadmissible

  Frying produces a different food, not lefse

• Rolling it too thick, losing the soft thinness that defines lefse
• Over-flouring the dough so it turns tough
• Cooking on too cool a griddle so it dries and stiffens
• Letting it cook crisp instead of keeping it soft and foldable

A traditional Norwegian griddle flatbread with many regional forms, the soft potato lefse being the best-known, also a strong tradition in Norwegian-American communities.

1. 1.Norwegian baking tradition
2. 2.Norwegian-American foodways

Confidence: high