Gluten-free Lefse recipe (Norwegian Flatbread)
Posted by Deb at 4/7/2008 3:16 PM 
Categories: Celiac Disease, gluten free scandinavian food, gluten free recipes, Gluten free lefse
Categories: Celiac Disease, gluten free scandinavian food, gluten free recipes, Gluten free lefse
I love Lefse! I haven't been able to eat any since 2001. 2001 was when I discovered that I was gluten intolerant and that meant I had to give up many of my favorite foods, Lefse was one of them. For years, I have been going to figure out the recipe for gluten-free Lefse. I tried about four years ago and it was a disaster. My lefse would fall to pieces before it got to the griddle. I had a friend that had made lefse many times with her mom and she taught me how. I had eaten it my whole life but never made it. Gail taught me many tricks. My oldest son asks me every year, "What do you want for Christmas?" I started telling him different things I needed to make lefse the right way. When I made them with Gail, we had the correct rolling pin and the stick to flip them but that was it, oh, we had her mom's recipe. About three years ago, my son got me the special rolling pin, the big round pastry board with the cover and some rolling pin covers. The next year he got me the special stick for slipping the lefse. Last year I got the special lefse griddle, the sides are really low which makes it easier to slide the lefse on and off the griddle. This year I promised that we would make lefse when my son came home for Christmas, it didn't happen, we got so busy that we didn't have time to do it. I got my newsletter from the church on Saturday and saw that the 7th annual Scandinavian Smorgasbord was this coming Saturday and that they were looking for volunteers to help cook some of the dishes. I called and Rolf gave me the menu, not much is gluten-free but there are a few things. I told Rolf that I would like to bring gluten-free lefse because I know that my husband and I can't be the only gluten-free people in church! I asked how many people would be served, he said last year there were 125 and they are hoping for a bigger crowd this year. Wow, that's a lot of lefse! Especially, when I haven't even figured out the recipe yet. I decided that I needed to start working on it quick so I went online and found 5 different recipes and analyzed them all. Since the last time I made gluten-free lefse, it was a disaster, I knew what it needed to look and feel like to work. I figured out the combination of different ingredients that I thought would be needed and went to the store and bought a 10 pound bag of potatoes, some butter and some real cream. I came home and washed 10, large, potatoes and boiled them whole, with the skins on until they were done. I ran cold water over them and let them sit there to cool for awhile. Once they were cool, I peeled the skins off and cut the potatoes in half and ran them through a potato ricer into a big bowl. I ended up with about 6 cups of riced potatoes, I added 6 Tablespoons of butter to the pototoes and let it melt, then mixed it up, and put it in the refrigerator for about 45 minutes to cool. While I was waiting for the potatoes to cool down, I cleaned up the first mess that I made. Then I sifted together - 3 cups of gluten-free flour mix with 4 teaspoons of xanthan gum, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 2 teaspoons of knox gelatin and a teaspoon of salt. I sifted it 3 times and then got out the rolling pin and the pastry board (it was still in it's plastic). I unwrapped the pastry board and sprinkled tapioca flour all over it because it said to flour it first, so I did. I put the rolling pin cover on and set it on the pastry board, so now those two things were ready. I got out the griddle and washed the top, plugged it in and let it heat up a little bit to burn off any newness that was on there. Finally, I was ready to make lefse! It's quite a lot of prep work but I knew that it would be worth it. I took the potatoes out of the refrigerator and put them in the big mixing bowl of my Kitchen Aide. I got a new Kitchen aide-heavy duty, stand mixer for Christmas this year, so baking has been alot more fun. I added the 1/2 cup of cream to the potatoes and turned on the mixer. As it was mixing, I added the gluten-free flour mix, a little bit at a time, to the potatoes, until it was all thoroughly mixed up. The griddle was hot and ready and so was I. I floured the pastry board again and also the rolling pin, and got my stick ready. I put the griddle on the counter and the pastry board right next to it on the stove top. The pastry board needs to be really close to the griddle because you don't want to have to go very far with the very thinly, rolled out lefse. I took out a piece of the potato mixture about the size of a tennis ball and rolled it into a ball. I put the ball in the middle of the pastry board and smashed it down with the palm of my hand and then flipped it over, and smashed it a little bit more. I took my rolling pin and started to roll out the lefse. You need to start in the middle and with just a little pressure, roll forward quickly. You do this all the way around until the lefse is really thin and even. It ends up being about 12 inches in diameter if you have rolled it out right. This next part was very tricky, I didn't do very well with the first two. After the lefse is rolled out, I took my lefse stick and carefully, loosened the lefse from the pastry cloth. Once that was done, I slid the stick back underneath the lefse and picked it up and tried to flip it onto the griddle without breaking it. Well, it didn't work very well, it fell into two pieces so I cooked it the way it fell. While I was waiting for it to cook, I put a little more flour on the pastry board and rolling pin and got another piece of potato mixture and rolled it into ball and did the same thing with it. It was easier to flip the lefse once one side had cooked. It only took about 3 minutes or so, to cook it, it even had the little brown spots on it and the squares that you get when you roll in out with the special rolling pin. By the time I had made 5 lefse's, I had it figured out. I was making my first gluten-free lefse and it was working. I was so excited ! It held together really well and tasted awesome! It was nothing like what had happened in the past. The last time, they were falling apart and tasted really dry. I was on my 12th one, when my husband reminded me that we had to go to dinner at our friends house. I was bummed, I was just getting the hang of it and I had to quit! I had made quite a mess, there was flour everywhere. It took me about 20 minutes to get it all cleaned up and then I had to go and change my clothes, I had flour all over me. No wonder they used to wear aprons! I took 5 pieces of the lefse over to our friends house, they are also Scandinavian and I knew that she would tell me the honest truth about how my lefse tasted. They loved them! Lauri told me that I had done super, I should be proud of myself. If she didn't know that they were gluten-free, she would have never known by the texture or the taste. I know what I have to do now, I have more potato mixture in the fridge so I can practice some more but I am confident that I will deliver the gluten-free lefse to the Smorgasbord on Saturday and that I won't be embarrased. There are alot of older ladies in church that are very practiced lefse makers, I am excited to have them taste my lefse!
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