--> Rolling Boards for Potato Lefse -- Need recommendations/advice

Subject: --> Rolling Boards for Potato Lefse -- Need recommendations/advice
Newsgroups: rec.food.baking,rec.food.cooking,rec.food.equipment,soc.culture.nordic

From: noring at netcom.com (Jon Noring)
Date: Fri, 8 Nov 1996 21:08:19 GMT
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Hello,

As a proud Norwegian-American, I love potato lefse. Potato lefse, for those of you not familiar with it, is a sort of "soft tortilla" which uses a mashed potato and flour dough.

But there's one problem. The dough is *extremely* sticky. Trying to roll it out to be tortilla thin is very difficult. For several years I used a well-floured pastry cloth, but this never really worked that well (and it was a pain in the kazisky to use). No matter how careful I was, the dough would always stick. I'd end up having to flour the pastry cloth so much that the texture and final flavor of the lefse became too "floury" for my taste. I also could not roll the lefse thin enough. And after making about 20-30 lefse, the pastry cloth would be so trashed with stuck on dough that I'd have to stop making lefse and do the unforgiveable and wash the pastry cloth.

Thus, I'd like to know if modern technology has produced a rolling board and rolling pin with a surface that is *very* resistant, even impervious, to the sticking of the stickiest potato lefse dough. It must be superior to a well-floured pastry cloth in this regard, which I've concluded does not work as I want.

I'm sure I'll get feedback on tricks on how to use traditional equipment to get the dough not to stick, but likely these tips will just add to the complexity and time it takes to make lefse (but share them anyway). I'm hoping that modern technology has solved the problem of sticking dough and would allow me to make lefse easy and painlessly.

Fortunately, I've solved the problem of cooking the lefse -- as a former Minnesotan, I'm a proud owner of a Bethany Fellowship Lefse gridle which works great (sadly, I've heard this gridle is no longer being sold -- it was probably the best thing on the market to make lefse, cook pancakes, make bacon, etc. -- the ultimate cooking surface. Does anybody else make something similar?)

Thanks.

Jon Noring

From: rhall2 at umbc.edu (hall robert)
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Jon Noring wrote:
>Thus, I'd like to know if modern technology has produced a rolling board and
>rolling pin with a surface that is *very* resistant, even impervious, to the
>sticking of the stickiest potato lefse dough. It must be superior to a well-
>floured pastry cloth in this regard, which I've concluded does not work as
>I want.

I've had the same problem. In my efforts to keep the lefse from sticking, I throw so much rye flour around that the whole kitchen is covered in flour. There is such a thing as a teflon covered rolling pin. But I've never tried one and can't tell you what happens when the unstickable object meets the unremovable substance.

>Fortunately, I've solved the problem of cooking the lefse -- as a former
>Minnesotan, I'm a proud owner of a Bethany Fellowship Lefse gridle which
>works great (sadly, I've heard this gridle is no longer being sold -- it was
>probably the best thing on the market to make lefse, cook pancakes, make
>bacon, etc. -- the ultimate cooking surface. Does anybody else make
>something similar?)

Lucky devil. Did you know that when you burn lefse in a frying pan, the burned part looks exactly like bread mold? Imagine a stack of what appears to be moldy lefse.

Bob Hall

From: trudifru at ix.netcom.com (TRUDIE FRASER URISH)
Date: 10 Nov 1996 17:31:25 GMT
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Jon Noring wrote:
>Thus, I'd like to know if modern technology has produced a rolling board and
>rolling pin with a surface that is *very* resistant, even impervious, to the
>sticking of the stickiest potato lefse dough. It must be superior to a well-
>floured pastry cloth in this regard, which I've concluded does not work as
>I want.

try this....i didn't have access to my marble rolling pin to make a thin thin pizza crust (tortilla thin), so i used an ice cold filled plastic water bottle (liter size, label removed). it worked so well i now keep one in the fridge just for that purpose! trud.

Khatak

From: Foundation for Health Services Research (heltef at sn.no)
Date: Sun, 10 Nov 1996 20:26:38 -0800
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Jon Noring wrote:

> As a proud Norwegian-American, I love potato lefse. Potato lefse, for
> those of you not familiar with it, is a sort of "soft tortilla" which
> uses a mashed potato and flour dough.

The most common name for this flat eat in this country is "lompe". It is what we normally will wrap around our hot dogs (or warm pølse "sausage" as it is called here, aka "Ei varm pølse med lompe og ketsjup og sennep. Takk." to keep our hands unburnt and contain the ketchup, etc.

> But there's one problem. The dough is *extremely* sticky. Trying to roll it
> out to be tortilla thin is very difficult. For several years I used a well-
> floured pastry cloth, but this never really worked that well (and it was a
> pain in the kazisky to use). No matter how careful I was, the dough would
> always stick. I'd end up having to flour the pastry cloth so much that the
> texture and final flavor of the lefse became too "floury" for my taste. I
> also could not roll the lefse thin enough. And after making about 20-30
> lefse, the pastry cloth would be so trashed with stuck on dough that I'd
> have to stop making lefse and do the unforgiveable and wash the pastry cloth.

This, folks, is suffering. What is a "pastry cloth"? Sad, it is.

> Thus, I'd like to know if modern technology has produced a rolling board and
> rolling pin with a surface that is *very* resistant, even impervious, to the
> sticking of the stickiest potato lefse dough. It must be superior to a well-
> floured pastry cloth in this regard, which I've concluded does not work as
> I want.

A surface that prevents burning does not necessarely prevent sticking. I never had this problem (except for using moist equipment, which is interesting. The usual advise is to use a rolling board and a rolling pin (kjevle) made form *beech* (quite hard wood, but not the very hardest) and sanded to only a medium smoothness with #120-180 paper. This keeps some floor in the surface: You cover with flour and remove all with a stroke of your hand. The rolling pin should be 7-10 cm thick (the word "pin" makes me think about something thinner), cylindrical and have handles that allows the kjevle to roll freely (high tech).

> I'm sure I'll get feedback on tricks on how to use traditional equipment to
> get the dough not to stick, but likely these tips will just add to the
> complexity and time it takes to make lefse (but share them anyway). I'm
> hoping that modern technology has solved the problem of sticking dough and
> would allow me to make lefse easy and painlessly.

The most obvious and malicious comment would be that the old folks did it easily. I shall not mention that. Here is what I do, and in sober condition I usually have little problem:

1 kg (2.2 lb) potatoes, cook (boil in water) until *just* tender *with peel*, then peel. This exact procedure prevents the potato turn into starch. This is where a lot of otherwise well groomed and civilized people go wrong.

Mash lightly and mix in 2-3 dl (a cup, cirkum) of wheat flour carefully, untill it feels right (like relatively hard bread dough). Use as little flour as possible. Don't overdo the mashing and kneading, or you will have sticky starch.

Make 4 cm (1.6 inch) ball. Toss a litle flour on the surface and distribute well with hand. Treat the kjevle likewise. Give the ball a controlled whack with your best (the one you hold your revolver with), flour treated fist and then flatten
it nicely whith same hand. Use your kjevle next and make a lompe up to 8 inches in diameter. You may have to treat the kjevle and the surface with some flour once or twice.

There should be a consistent, but *thin* (one particle thickness is ideal), layer of flour on the working surfaces (and ideally nowhere else). Use as little as possible, or the lompe will taste burnt flour and our pølse eating guests will understand that we have reached our level of incompetence. Again.

I then use to ease it onto the kjevle with a longflat1"widethingylikeaknifebutnotsharp and transport it to the griddle or frying pan (a high quality iron pan that is not so deep, works OK), otherwise I tend to mess up the floor (which I do anyway, so who cares).

> Fortunately, I've solved the problem of cooking the lefse -- as a former
> Minnesotan, I'm a proud owner of a Bethany Fellowship Lefse gridle which
> works great (sadly, I've heard this gridle is no longer being sold -- it was
> probably the best thing on the market to make lefse, cook pancakes, make
> bacon, etc. -- the ultimate cooking surface. Does anybody else make
> something similar?)

Maybe from NAFTA will help?

It doesn't taste any good, so serve with generous amounts of beer or wine. Or whatever you keep in the house.

Arne Kolstad

From: N/V/S Fazakerley (faz at argonet.co.uk)
Date: Sun, 10 Nov 1996 19:14:53 GMT
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The recipe I can find for lefse is 3lb mashed potato and 1lb rye flour kneaded to a smooth paste. It also recommends you leave it till the next day before rolling out and using. Presumably this ensures that the moisture from the mashed potato is absorbed by the rye flour. Were you using rye flour?

Vibeke

From: isoinc at skypoint.com (isoinc)
Date: 13 Nov 1996 19:29:07 GMT
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Jon Noring wrote:
: Fortunately, I've solved the problem of cooking the lefse -- as a former
: Minnesotan, I'm a proud owner of a Bethany Fellowship Lefse gridle which
: works great (sadly, I've heard this gridle is no longer being sold -- it was
: probably the best thing on the market to make lefse, cook pancakes, make
: bacon, etc. -- the ultimate cooking surface. Does anybody else make
: something similar?)

Bethany is still making lefse griddles, which, as you mention also double as a nice electric griddle. They also make a lefse board with a cloth covering.

We have both products in our kitchen specialties area, as well as most everything else that Bethany makes.

Take care,
Dan

From: djs5k at avery.med.Virginia.EDU (Debra J. Swanson)
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 17:31:32 GMT
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I don't know if this will help the sticky problem, as I have never made lefse (but do love it!). I tape some wax paper (with Scotch tape) to the counter, usually two sheets taped together, and then taped to the counter. Then I dust it with flour. I do this for pie crust, dough for sticky buns, etc., so it should work ok for lefse as well. The best thing about this method is that it is clean, and cleanup is a snap! No messy pastry cloths for me. My Norwegian-American husband wants me to make lefse for Christmas, so maybe I'll give it a whirl, (tho I stick to the Swedish recipes most of the time from my ancestors).

Debbie

From: nitcha at wolfenet.com (Natalie McNair-Huff)
Date: 19 Nov 1996 05:22:28 GMT
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After you rice your potatoes, try leaving them uncovered in the refrigerator overnight. This dries them out a bit without changing the flavor. Also try just using a large, smooth wooden bread board for rolling them out. And I hope you have a real lefse rolling pin -- not one of those ridiculously large cookie/pastry rolling pins. They don't work as well as a small lefse pin because more of the pin surface comes in contact w/ the dough, thus making the dough stick more. If you don't have a real lefse pin then just go to a hardware store and buy a 1" diameter dowel and cut to size.