It wasn’t easy keeping up with the demands of the Scandinavian lefse lovers in SE Minnesota, but Merlin Hoiness, founder of the lefse factory, was determined to make it work. He was convinced there had to be a way to streamline the process without giving up the hand-made quality.

Rolling the lefse rounds was the most difficult part of the process. The primary challenge is that lefse dough is not flexible like bread or pizza dough, and proper rolling is critical to ensure it is consistently round, thin and tender. Rolling the dough in all directions continuously throughout the workday was a back-breaking ordeal.

Lefse Rolling Machines

In 1984, Merlin’s quality lefse-making skills were combined with the industrial savvy of Jim Humble of Rushford, MN to develop a faster, fully-mechanized lefse rolling machine that went quite a few steps beyond Merlin’s first prototype.

The Humble-built machine included a mechanically-driven roller that was filled with lead and weighed 22 lbs.—the weight found to be close to the natural pressure exerted in hand rolling. It was cloth-covered and grooved like standard lefse rolling pins to prevent a double crust from forming. Powered by surplus IBM computer motors from Rochester, MN, the weighted roller alternately moved from the center to the outside of the dough patty while the platform rotated 1/8 of a turn with each swipe. This made for a hands-free, consistently thin, delicate lefse round.

Lefse makers could finally concentrate on perfect baking while the lefse rolling machines did the heavy work. The art of lefse-making had entered the industrial age!

- Valencia Gaddis