Bazaar baking: Freeland church hosts sale full of lefse

Ben Watanabe / The Record These folks take a break after a power session of cooking lefse for the Trinity Lutheran Church bazaar. The sweet bread will be sold in packs of four at the sale from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3. The church is located at 18341 Highway 525 in Freeland. - Ben Watanabe / The Record
Ben Watanabe / The Record
Ben Watanabe / The Record These folks take a break after a power session of cooking lefse for the Trinity Lutheran Church bazaar. The sweet bread will be sold in packs of four at the sale from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3. The church is located at 18341 Highway 525 in Freeland.

October 26, 2012 · Updated 2:43 PM 

BY RECORD STAFF

Lots of lefse will be on sale at the upcoming Trinity Lutheran Church bazaar.

The flat bread is a traditional Norwegian pastry and a staple at the church sale. A group of about 10 people was in the church’s kitchen a few times leading to the bazaar, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3, making the lefse dough, rolling it into balls, flattening the balls into tortilla-sized rounds, frying the dough then folding and packing it. One of the group’s helpers, and the only man at a recent bake session, was nostalgic about the bread from his childhood days in North Dakota (if his “Kiss the cook/He is Norwegian” apron didn’t give it away).

“It was quite a production,” said Lydell Knudson. “It brought back memories of a long time ago.”

“The sweeter they can get it, the better they like it.”

About 100 packages were made for the bazaar. And they sell out in a hurry.

One of the tricks to cooking the delicate dough is its special stick. Lefse sticks are long and thin with rounded edges perfect for lifting the dough off the counter and rolling it onto the griddle.

Ardella Josephson, the bazaar coordinator, said a team of about 12 people helped make all the lefse. Over the course of four baking days the past month or so, the volunteers made about 400 pieces of lefse (not counting the ones they tasted for quality control).

 

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