Category: Lefse

Last March, I fretted about freezing lefse. That even after all these years of making lefse and teaching lefse making, I was not confident about freezing my rounds. I asked for help from my readers, and received it, of course. Lefse makers got each other’s backs, right?

Bonnie Sellner said: “I fold the lefse in half and then again in half and have a triangle. I stack three of these. Then, wrap in Press n Seal. Then freeze. These packages are easy then to just take out of freezer as needed. These are so easy for mailing out to my relatives.”

In my book Keep On Rolling! Life on the Lefse Trail and Learning to Get a Round, Jean Olson of Deerwood, Minnesota, has this tip on freezing lefse: “Before freezing, wrap six cooled-and-folded rounds in Saran Wrap. Wait 24 hours, and then put the lefse in a Ziploc bag for freezing.”

And Connie Bowers wrote: “I have kept lefse frozen for one year and it was still edible.”

I have found freezer bags from Target that are large enough so folding is not necessary. This eliminates cracking along the fold lines. I also make sure the lefse has plenty of time to cool and dry—but not dry out—before putting parchment paper between the rounds in the freezer bag so the lefse doesn’t stick together.

So after all my fretting, I froze lefse last March and then forgot about it. Until today, nearly half a year later. Is the lefse “edible?”

I dig around in my overpacked chest freezer, curious to see if the lefse is still in a flat position or is buried under a big chunk of boneless sirloin steak or a pile of mint chocolate chip Klondike bars my grandkids go to when they come to visit. Amazingly, the lefse is flat!

I remove one piece along with the parchment paper that covers it. I check both sides of the lefse. One side looks fine, but for some reason the other side looks emaciated, like it has freezer burn! “Poor lefse,” I think, “what have I done to you?”

I let it thaw in a plastic bag so it doesn’t dry, and I wonder if I would serve this to another lefse lover.

Thawing is surprisingly fast. Within minutes, the lefse is soft, and the supposed freezer burn has disappeared. It looks and feels like real lefse!

I pop the lefse in the microwave for seven seconds, which softens the lefse a bit more. I spread butter and cinnamon and sugar, and I am ready for the taste test.

The lefse is more than edible; it’s very good! Taste and texture are excellent!

The truth about freezing lefse is my perfectionism is peeking through. I make wonderful lefse, like many of my readers, that brings oohs and aahs when served fresh. So I have to accept that frozen lefse—and there are many ways to freeze it—cannot be the same as fresh lefse. Fresh is fresh. I try to serve fresh lefse whenever I can, but there are times when I can’t. So I can let go of my perfectionism (yet again) and be proud to serve frozen.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!

All the writing and editing for my new novel are done, and Final Rounds: On Love, Loss, Life, and Lefse is in the final stages of production. My designer, Jenny Mahoney, is laying out the pages and incorporating the 20 color illustrations by Heather Bassler Zemien. Exciting!

I call Final Rounds a lefse novel. Let me explain. It is a novel about grief for people 12 and over. Certainly, there is sadness with loss, and the novel brings tears throughout. But the bulk of the book is a set of sweet and funny and moving recollections by Amaya, a 12-year-old whose grandfather, Papa, has passed away the day the book opens.

One of Amaya’s memories is of a snowbound night of making 630 rounds of lefse. In this night, Papa explains to Amaya his rather goofy Eight Rules of Life, which includes a rule on how to handle failure in general and in particular in learning to make lefse. Here is part of the rule and part of the conversation that follows. By the way, the rules are presented in verse and the conversation is also in verse—part of the creative fun in writing fiction!

First, Papa expounds on failure in general:

Does failure mean you will not succeed?

Failure, my girl, may be just what you need…

Failure may mean that something is lacking.

Is backing behind a façade that is cracking?

 

Failure is often ’tween you and your dream.

Your boo-boos and flaws are not what they seem.

Failure’s an invite: Develop. Be humble.

Strengthen your weakness so you will not stumble.

And then Amaya responds with a question about wanting to learn to make lefse but fearing she will make bad lefse, which is a common concern for beginners. So Papa gives a a lesson, passing on the tradition of lefse making.

“Papa,” said I, “may I ask this of you?

“I want to roll lefse, so what shall I do?”

 

He stopped rolling lefse and stared at me so.

“Yes, my granddaughter, this skill you should know.

“What am I thinking? You should roll; it’s time!

“You’re steady, you’re ready—you’ve entered your prime.”

 

He gave me his pin, wood smoothed by his love.

Was I nervous and tense, apprehensive? Sort of.

“Roll dough in your hands and please make a patty.

“Its edges have cracks? Your round will be ratty.

 

“Amaya, my dear, don’t bang and don’t squish.

“Let the pin work—if not, you’ll have ish.

“Start round and stay round, check always the shape.

“Lift at the edges; roll thin as a crepe.

 

“Flour them well, your board and your pin,

“For flour will stop your round from stickin’.

“Turn your round once when rolling’s half done,

“Then finish the rolling—that’s it, have some fun!”

 

I smiled and I tried, and I tried once again.

Yikes: one round was shaped like Lake Michigan!

The next was Kentucky, and the next round like Maine.

Texas, New Mexico—no two were the same!

 

 Papa just smiled and said, “It’s OK.

“Keep rolling, Amaya, and do not dismay.

This is one of the many tender moments in Final Rounds. I will keep you updated, and you will be the first to know when the book is published in August.

I have written four non-fiction books on lefse and lutefisk, and now I have written my first fiction, a novel that will be published this summer. It is called Final Rounds: On Love, Loss, Life and Lefse.

You may notice that I dropped the Yes from the title. Too many words and commas with Yes included. That’s an example of how a book emerges and evolves with edits. I am grateful to have several readers who have given feedback and changed the book. And it is humbling to see how much better the novel gets with the work of Kathleen Weflen, who has edited all of my books, and Shannon Pennefeather Gardner, who has copy edited my last two books.

The drawing of the colorful bowls above by Heather Bassler Zemien is another example of how a book emerges and evolves. You saw an early sketch of the novel’s cover in a previous post, but the cover image has changed, which you will see when the cover is finalized (soon). Here you see a start—a messy, incomplete genesis—of mixing bowls used to make lefse dough in a chapter where Amaya, the 12-year-old main character, makes loads of lefse with her grandfather and Mrs. Taylor.

The point: The creative process begins with a mess of words and lines that form drafts and sketches that form beautiful illustrations and wonderful chapters in a book. Don’t judge the early mess. Keep working with it. Get help. Accept help. It’ll be fine. … I’ll be saying this to myself many time in the next few months before publication!

I love all things lefse and I love writing, so I’m excited to announce that I have again combined my loves into a new book. This book is a novel, my first, and I’m thrilled.

The novel is titled Final Rounds: On Love, Loss, Life, and, Yes, Lefse. It is a short novel for middle school children and older — and I like to think it’s a good adult read, as well. Final Rounds is about grief, a joyous book on grief with 630 rounds of lefse rolled in. The novel begins:

My Papa passed away today, I don’t know what to do.
“My Poober-Pahbers, WRITE!” he’d say. “Writing finds the you that’s true.”

The narrator is 12-year-old Amaya, who doesn’t write or read well because of dyslexia. But she forces herself to write, as Papa, her grandfather, would have wanted. To prepare for her writing task, Amaya makes lefse the way Papa had taught her. Then she faces the blank page and lets her hand move freely — and surprises herself by writing in rhymes! Was it the lefse that led to the rhyming?

She recounts a day-night-day three years prior when she and Papa were housebound by a record snowfall. In this storm, they made 630 rounds of lefse that, as a Christmas tradition, they would give to every household in their small town in Minnesota.

During this lefse lollapalooza, Papa explained his eight rather wacky rules of life to guide Amaya. For example, Rule No. 4 is “Remember KABLOOEY.” What the heck is KABLOOEY?

KABLOOEY’S the thing that cancels your phooey.
If you’re kinda blue, just look for KABLOOEY.
KABLOOEY is humor, hilarity, wit.
When packing for life, load oodles of it.

After Papa defined Rule No. 6, “Know a KNOT, “ his telephone rang. It was Mrs. Taylor, an elderly neighbor near his farm. Her furnace had gone out. Papa and Amaya saddled up their Belgian horses and rode through the storm to pick up Mrs. Taylor and return to Papa’s for the night. The next day, the three of them finished rolling what was left of the 28 bowls of lefse dough. As they rolled, Mrs. Taylor had Amaya and Papa spellbound by the story of purchasing her black hat three decades earlier, which at the time was a defining moment in the life of this young, black teacher from Mississippi.

The story ends on the day of Papa’s funeral. Amaya had wanted to do something special for Papa on this day, and after writing about Papa, his eight Rules, and this magical lefse-making moment with the horses and the snow and Mrs. Taylor, Amaya figures out what that something special is — and it has to do with lefse.

Final Rounds is a tender book on a tough topic, but it the only book on grief that will teach you a tip or two about making lefse … in verse.

I will keep you posted on the progress of Final Rounds as it is goes though edits and proofs. Expect publication to be this summer.

Whenever winters get rough — and this is a rough one in Minnesota — I figure lefse lovers have an advantage in surviving freezing temps and record snowfalls: We have lefse. As my friend and editor Kathleen Weflen says, lefse warms us twice. Once when we make it and again when we eat it.

As much as I’ve made lefse and written about it, there is one area of lefse making that I need help with: freezing it. Frankly, there hasn’t been much need in our house. The lefse’s gone pretty quickly after we make it. Still, I want to freeze it so that I can offer it to guests who pop in or to be able to take it to a dinner or party without making a fuss and a mess.

So I am experimenting with freezing lefse. The issue I have with freezing lefse is it’s not quite as tender when it thaws and the rounds can crack. I have found freezer bags from Target that are large enough so folding is not necessary. This eliminates cracking along the fold lines. I also make sure the lefse has plenty of time to cool and dry — but not dry out — before putting parchment paper between the rounds in the freezer bag so the lefse doesn’t stick together.

In my book Keep On Rolling! Life on the Lefse Trail and Learning to Get a Round, Jean Olson of Deerwood, Minnesota, has this tip on freezing lefse: “Before freezing, wrap six cooled-and-folded rounds in Saran Wrap. Wait 24 hours, and then put the lefse in a Ziploc bag for freezing.”

Is this what you do to freeze lefse? How satisfied are you with your lefse-freezing method?

PLEASE send your tips on freezing lefse! Just email me at glegwold@lutefisk.com. Thanks!

Oh, spring comes in less than three weeks!

Of course, if your day is dominated by don’ts, don’t read on. That is, if you don’t like chocolate and butter and bananas and pecans — and if you don’t want to adulterate your lefse with anything but the standard butter and sugar — then stop right here. No need to check out this recipe for making a Valentine’s Day lefse wrap that is almost as irresistible as your Sweetie on the Big Heart Day.

On the other hand, if you do like fudge — homemade fudge — and if you do like bringing a bit of drooling adventure to Lefseland, then by all means do make The Amen Lefse Wrap and bring it to your belle or beau. Or … make it and eat all by yourself.

The Amen Lefse Wrap

Chocolate-banana lefse wrap

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate

4 tablespoons butter

¾ cup sugar

¼ cup cocoa powder

½ cup cream

6 ripe bananas

½ cup chopped pecans

To prepare fudge sauce: Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler. Stir in sugar, cocoa, and cream. Cook over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until smooth. Set aside.

Slice bananas and spread in a line on the diameter of 4 lefse rounds. Drizzle generously with fudge sauce, and sprinkle with pecans. Roll burrito-style.

The NFC and AFC Championship games this weekend and the Super Bowl game February 3^rd mean only one thing: party time! All good. So here’s what you can bring for food other than the same old same old bowl of chili or platter of chips and dip:

Lefse wraps!

I can guarantee your lefse wraps will be the talk of the table because:

• Everyone loves a tasty wrap. It’s fun finger food, and you don’t fill up on a lot of carbs — just the savory combinations inside.
• A lefse wrap is the tastiest of all wraps. Most other types of wraps have wrappings with no flavor — zilch. But velvety, toasty, potato-y lefse adds to the texture and the ensemble of flavors. Plus, lefse is pretty with its brown spots and freckles against a golden background. Just make sure you roll your lefse thicker than normal so the rounds are strong enough to hold the goodies within.

Think about taking to football parties — or any party, for that matter — one of the 13 lefse wraps in Keep On Rolling! Life on the Lefse Trail and Learning to Get a Round. Here is an example of one of those can’t-miss wraps:

Shrimp in a Blanket

Shrimp lefse rollup

8 ounces softened cream cheese

4 ounces shrimp-cocktail sauce

12 ounces peeled, deveined, cooked shrimp (recommend 21 to 25 count shrimp, each cut in two or three pieces, for 4 rounds of lefse)

1/4 cup chopped parsley

Spread softened cream cheese on 4 rounds of lefse. Spread cocktail sauce over cream cheese. Sprinkle shrimp pieces all over cocktail sauce. Sprinkle parsley over all. Roll up lefse, and cut into pinwheels.

Enjoy, and enjoy the games!

Gary’s note: I first mash my boiled potatoes and then rice them twice to make sure I eliminate as many little lumps in the dough as possible. Normally, I use a Vintage Potato Ricer because the old ricers work better than the new. But hand ricing is a lotta work when making a lotta dough, so I was curious about the ricing method described below by Nolan Spencer, my lefse pal in Deerwood, Minnesota. I tried it and like this method. Check it out.

Nolan writes:

A few years ago, I saw a gal grinding her boiled spuds on a little KitchenAid grinder. I decided to try this on my big No. 22 grinder when my neighbor Dick Raymond and myself demonstrated lefse making and taught lefse rolling and baking to his sons, daughters-in-laws, and grandkids. We boiled and ground 15 pounds of russets through the 1/8-inch plate. The result was smooth dough with no lumps. 

Two years ago, I bought this little No. 8 grinder (shown above) at Fleet Farm. It’s noisy and I wouldn’t want to make sausage with it, but it grinds taters smoothly and quickly. My friend Millie Priyatel and I put five pounds through it in eight minutes one evening recently. No aching, arthritic wrists, and cleanup was just a quick, hot-water rinse.  

I grind into the blue plastic container, as shown. I flatten out the spuds and pour my cream-butter-salt-sugar mixture over the potatoes. Then I “stomp” the mixture in with a potato masher until a have a nice, smooth, even dough. 

I cover with a dishtowel, and into the fridge it goes for the night. The next morning right before rolling and grilling, I add King Arthur Flour (Gary’s recommendation which I’ve passed on to many) to the cooled spud mixture, make dough balls, and start rolling.

The holidays bring out the lefse lover in us, and lovers of all kinds adore poetry. So to spice up your holiday spirit, here is a haiku followed by three lefse poems.

Haiku for the Holidays

By Kathleen Weflen.

Kathleen lives in St. Paul and has edited all my books.

Norwegian lefse

Dainty potato doilies

Grandma’s recipe

Making Lefse

By Doug Bengtson

Doug is a lefse maker in Wood Lake, Minnesota.

Get out potatoes, cream, and flour

We’ll make lefse by the hour

A little mixing here and there

We roll it out real thin, I swear

Find the griddle and rolling pin

Plug in the griddle, mix the recipe in

Get the table set up and ready

Make sure everything is steady

Roll out the lefse with a shout

Get the butter and brown sugar out

On the griddle make a quick flip

Take it off and have coffee to sip

Iss Called Lefse for a Purpose

By Gary Legwold

From The Last Word on Lefse

Oh Lord it iss hard to make lefse

Dat is perfect in every vay.

To roll dem so round and so tin

Ho, ho, ho, ha, ha — dat vill be the day!

To know lefse, ya sure, iss to love it

No matter how tick, tough, or dead.

And if lefse vas s’pose to be yust right

Ve’d call lefse “yust rightse” instead.

Lefse Is a Classy Lady

By Gary Legwold

From Keep On Rolling!

Lefse is a classy lady,

This we know to be true.

She was there through our uneven youth,

Smoothing, soothing, oh so sweet.

She was there when we were off to . . .

Tears and prayers and miss-yous in the pillow package of toasted flour.

She was there when we returned, cavalier and stride full.

She nodded humility at the screen door. “A little lunch, then?”

She was there when we Gave Thanks each year

Sensual, soft, stunning, dressing up the day . . . turning heads at the Christmas table.

She is there when the old ones go, closing the crackly, weighted black album,

And when the young ones come, blessing their big-eyed, breathless open book.

She is there when we slow and slump and stumble

She knows . . . She knows . . . She shrugs and smiles and says, “Keep on rolling.”

Lefse is a classy lady,

This we know to be true.