Rolling in the dough
Arlene Kjos, center and Pat Phillips roll out thin layers of lefse on Friday morning at the Epworth Methodist Church in Kalispell. In the background are Charlie Phillips, left, and Rick Hagen, right. All four are members of the Sons of Norway.
Pat Phillips checks to make sure a batch of potatoes are fully cooked on Thursday at the Epworth Methodist Church in Kalispell. According to Rena Hagan 25 volunteers worked over two days to peel and cook 100 pounds of potatoes into traditional lefse which will be sold at the church bazaar on Saturday, November 6. Hagan said that last year the lefse sold out in the fist three hours.
Pat Phillips checks and stirs a large pot of boiling potatoes on Thursday at the Epworth Methodist Church in Kalispell. Phillips, a member of the Sons of Norway, is one of 25 volunteers who worked six hours over two days to prepare traditional Lefse for the church bazaar which will take place on November 6.
Maxine O'Brien of Kalispell, right, gives Sue Rolfing of Columbia Falls pointers on how to know when to turn the lefse on Friday at the Epworth Methodist Church in Kalispell.
How many Norwegians does it take to make lefse from 100 pounds of potatoes?
It’s a trick question, because truth be known, it doesn’t take an ounce of Norwegian heritage to make the potato dough delicacy.
Just ask Pat Phillips. She’s mostly English, not a drop of Norwegian blood in her, but she was rolling with the best of them on Friday at Epworth United Methodist Church as a small army of women — and a few dedicated husbands — made lefse to sell at the church bazaar on Nov. 6 as a fundraiser for mission work.
“I didn’t know what lefse was until I married Charlie,” Pat confided as she rolled out yet another perfectly round lefse. “I’m not Norwegian at all. I told him I didn’t know how to fix it, and I got by with that for two winters. Then I had to start” learning how to make it.
Pat and Charlie Phillips have been married for 60 years, so she’s been making lefse for about 58 years. Charlie’s mother gave her instructions; so did her sister-in-law, Bunny Watters of Libby, who actually was dubbed the “Lefse Queen” of that town.” Donna Tice, another lefse ace, followed up with some helpful tips for making flawless rounds of the traditional soft Norwegian flatbread.
“Donna helped me perfect it,” Pat duly noted about Tice, who was rolling lefse at the next station over in the church basement.
Luckily for Epworth United Methodist Church, the congregation has a small but might contingent of Sons of Norway members who bring a lot of lefse-making ability to the table, so to speak. The Phillipses are Sons of Norway members; so are Ken and Betty Haugan and Richard and Rena Hagen. Tice also belongs to the Sons of Norway, as does Enger Lembke.
As part of the deal, the Sons of Norway members are able to use the church to make lefse for their own annual dinner.
Norwegians traditionally make lefse during the winter months, particularly around the holidays. They brought the practice with them to America when they began emigrating in great numbers in the mid-1800s and it’s been carried on by their descendants ever since.
Making the delicious tortilla-like rounds from a mixture of cream, butter, flour and potatoes isn’t difficult, but it’s time-consuming. The effort spans two days to peel and cook the potatoes, rice the potatoes and then mix up the lefse dough. Richard Hagen grows the organic Yukon Gold potatoes used for Epworth and the Sons of Norway lefse.
“The most difficult thing is knowing how much flour to add,” Pat Phillips said. “If the dough is good, it rolls like a charm.”
The women handled most of the rolling; the men flipped the lefse on hot griddles and handled much of the cooling, culling and packaging. Without culling a few of the torn or misshapen lefse, there’d be nothing for the crew to eat. So it goes without saying that there’s a pile of rejects sitting next to a slab of butter and a sugar bowl.
The discussion inevitably turns to personal preference in lefse consumption. Purists like Richard Hagen like to eat lefse without anything on it, simply to savor the potato flavor.
“I don’t like to ruin the taste with anything,” he said.
Charlie Phillips grew up eating lefse with white Karo syrup, sugar and butter.
“My mother used to make it on a woodstove,” he reminisced. “My buddies and I would stand there waiting for it. It was a lot of work to keep us satisfied, I realize now.”
Pat Phillips’ twist on eating lefse flies in the face of traditionalists — she slathers it with a little mayonnaise and rolls in scrambled eggs.
Rena Hagen, who chaired this year’s lefse project, said the communal fellowship of making lefse is something that can enrich a church group or any group that undertakes the age-old custom. Her husband agreed.
“It’s getting to know each other,” Richard Hagen said.
It’s also satisfying to perfect the art of lefse-making.
“Wow, that’s perfection,” Hagen exclaimed, lifting a uniformly browned lefse off the griddle. But as his Norwegian modesty kicked in, he added: “Not to brag or anything...”
The lefse will be sold, $7 for five rounds, on Saturday, Nov. 6, during the church’s annual holiday bazaar from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the church, 329 Second Ave. E. in Kalispell. Proceeds support United Methodist Women’s mission projects providing local and worldwide services for women and children.
The Sons of Norway will have lefse-making equipment for sale at the Immanuel Lutheran Home bazaar on Friday, Nov. 5, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Lefse made by Immanuel volunteers will be sold at that event.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com