Lefse - Norwegian Potato Flat bread

Around the Holidays there is usually so much food and leftovers that people don't know what to do with it all. One thing that is almost guaranteed to be on a holiday table is mashed potatoes.
This wonderful side dish is great just as it is, or to be put in other things such as a Shepherd's pie  or to be made into pancakes and fried. Since I've been on my quest to find new and different things to try however, I decided to go with a Norwegian dish called Lefsa.

I had heard about this flat potato bread before I went looking around for traditional foods from Norway, but had never had it, let alone tried to make it. There are savory lefsa and dessert lefsa, lefsa (tjukklefse) that is thicker and used as a cake with coffee, and thin lefsa (tynnlefse) that is used for dessert. They even have a lefse (potetlefse) that is used as a hot dog bun! As you can see it's very versatile. The one thing that seems to stay the same with every version though is the main ingredients potato, milk or cream, and flour.

Being that myself and I'm sure most people out there don't have the tools that usually go with lefsa making, I of course didn't use them. I instead used my trusty non-stick skillet, regular rolling pin, and a spatula.

Lefsa - Norwegian Potato Flat bread (makes 8)

2 cups Mashed Potatoes, chilled (approx 3 medium peeled potatoes)

2 cups of whole wheat AP flour (keep another cup handy just in case)

1 or 2 tablespoons milk or cream (I used 1% milk)

Salt to taste (if the potatoes haven't been salted already)

Take your potatoes and add the milk (or cream), salt (if needed) and mix well. This is where if you'd like, you can add in other seasonings depending on what kind of lefsa you're making (cinnamon, sugar, pepper, oregano, etc), but they're not needed.

Flour a large surface where you can knead your dough (a good size cutting board works perfect). Turn your mashed potatoes onto the board and add 1 cup of flour. Knead a few minutes to get the flour incorporated then slowly add the other cup of flour, making sure that the potato dough doesn't stick by adding flour onto the board. Knead until completely incorporated and it feels more like a dough than mashed potatoes.

Cut your dough into 8 even pieces. Make sure to keep your board floured as these will stick and will tear if it's not. Take your rolling pin and roll out your dough as thin as you like it. Mine were less than 1/8th inch thick.

Heat a non-stick pan to medium heat. Place the bread in the pan and go ahead and roll out another while it cooks. Flip it as soon as you see it start to form a bubble on the bottom. It should have nice color to it. This should take all of about 1 minute to cook, if that. Put to the side when done. They should be fairly flexible, enough so that you can fold it without it cracking.

As for eating, I chose the dessert route. A little bit of butter on the inside with cinnamon and sugar sprinkled lightly on top. These are best served warm, and if they aren't eaten as soon as they are done about 10 seconds in the microwave will do the trick!