Traditional Norwegian Lomper – Potato Flatbread

Lomper are a staple in Norwegian kitchens, and once you learn how to make them I bet they’ll become a staple in yours. They’re tasty, versatile, and healthy. Lomper are soft potato flatbreads, sort of like tortillas, made from potatoes, a bit of all purpose and rye flour, and a pinch of salt. That’s it!

Lomper might remind you of their perhaps more famous lefse cousins, and I guess technically lomper are considered a type of lefse. But they’re a tiny bit thicker and usually smaller than lefser, which means they’re also easier to make. They do take a bit of practice, but once you get the hang of making lomper they’re really quite easy.

Like tortillas, lomper are often eaten as wraps for sandwiches, but they’re probably most often seen in Norway wrapped around hotdogs. Usually you can always buy hotdogs either in hotdog buns or in lomper.

You can find my recipe for tunnbrödsrulle, Swedish hotdogs with mashed potatoes and Skagenröra rolled in lomper here.

I used most of this batch of lomper for breakfast sandwiches and now I’m hooked, so I think I will have to make up a new batch for my breakfasts.

But you can also fill lomper with butter, sugar, and/or jam for a sweet variety. This isn’t quite as common as sweet lefser, but they’re also very tasty. I filled a few of this batch of lomper with vanilla kvarg (like Greek yoghurt) and fresh berries for a perfect Norwegian summer dessert.

Making lomper begins the same way most Norwegian dinners begin: peeling cooked potatoes. I remember my American friends being so confused when they would have dinner at my house, because we’d always start off by peeling our cooked potatoes – a ritual that isn’t as common in the US.

Then you’ll want to mash the potatoes really well until they’re totally smooth.

You might be tempted to add more flour to the dough to make it easier to roll out, but try to resist if you can. If the dough is really sticky you can of course add more flour, but if you include too much flour the lomper will become tough. You want to keep the lovely velvety texture of the potatoes in the lomper.

Be patient if this is your first time rolling out lomper. It will probably take several tries before you get a useable lompe, but don’t give up. By the end of the batch it should be much easier!

My biggest tip here is to use really light, quick strokes from the center of the lomper outwards. I usually turn the lomper on my floured surface after each roll, so I’m sure that it’s not sticking to the surface. By keeping the strokes really light you’ll also help the lomper not stick.

You can also lightly stretch and shape the lomper with your hands in between rolls so you get a nice round shape.

You might need to experiment a bit with the heat level for cooking your lomper. I cook them over medium heat and turn with the spots are a nice dark brown, after about 30 seconds.

You can switch the recipe from US measurements to metric by clicking from “US Customary” to “Metric” under Ingredients.