Lokshe (Lokše)
Ingredients: 6 potatoes, cup of flour, oil, salt, sauerkraut or jam with poppy seeds
Prep Time: 30 minutes
An indispensable part of the Slovak kitchen are lokshe (lokše, lokša singular). They are thin pancakes made out of potato dough that are baked on a hot plate or an ungreased frying pan. They are kind of like Slovak tortillas. These will be found on any Christmas table! You will also find them offered at Christmas markets held in just about every town during the holidays. Today I am again at my grandma, so I watched as she prepared a batch. Follow the following easy steps to prepare this delicious and cheap Slovak treat at home.
Start by boiling unpeeled potatoes (zemiaky v kožke, potatoes in skin). Don’t boil them all the way, just long enough so that you can stick a fork in part of the way. Remove the skin, and grate them.
Then add about a cup of flour (múka) and a dash of salt (soľ). Work into dough.
Transfer onto a floured board, and roll into a tube some 2-3 inches in diameter. Cut out individual slices about an inch thick.
Then take each piece and transfer onto a floured section of the board. Sprinkle more flour on top. Pat it down a bit with your fingers and roll out with a short back-and-forth motion until you have a pancake some 1 or 2 millimeters thick.
Then bake on an ungreased frying pan, hot plate, or, like my grandma did, directly on her wood burning stove (šporák). Bake each side for few minutes, until they look done – they’ll get dark spots. Grease one side with oil (olej).
Fill with sauerkraut (kyslá kapusta) and roll into a pancake. Or, fold over and over again to make a little sachet.
I also convinced my grandma to try them filled with raspberry jam (malinový lekvár) and topped with poppy seeds with sugar (mak s cukrom), the way I had them in Bratislava on New Years. They are delicious like that, although my grandma wasn’t quite sold: Chutia ako palacinky (They taste like crepes) she said. Yes, the traditional way is to eat them with sauerkraut or cabbage.
You can also eat them plain. They are great like that as a light snack with tea or coffee. Lokše are typically eaten on Christmas after the traditional helping of kapustnica and fried carp. Lokše are also eaten on Good Friday.
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Thanks for the demo/recipe. I think my grandmother and mother made them a little differently. They were a little thicker and I remember melted butter, browned a little, and then brushed on them. I’ll try this on Good Friday.
Lubos:
Whenever you have the opportunity – can you educate me regarding the Slovak name/spelling/pronunciation, for the thickener made of flour, fat, sometimes sour cream mix (zaprashka; my phonetic spelling) which my mom and grandma used to thicken various soups, stews, etc. Often she made a soup with green beans and potatoes, water; then, after the vegetables were cooked she added the flour thickener to the soup to plump it up slightly. It was delicious and I still make it now. But, I’m having difficulty finding out what it was called, I only can refer to my poor phonetic spelling of the word. In French cooking this procedure, it is referred to as a “Roux,” and I just wanted the correct Slavic spelling and pronunciation. Hope you can help me.
Thank you for taking the time to reply. I love reading and looking at your descriptions of your grandma’s work/cooking. My own grandmother and mother cooked on a similar looking stove as your grandma, but those stoves were coal fired. I’m born and raised the coal mining area in Pennsylvania. The coal mining area is where my paternal grandparents settled in the US. How I wish I’d paid more attention in my kidhood and young adulthood – I’ve forgotten so much Slovak, I need to start all over.
Love your site and appreciate your efforts. Enjoy Slovakia and your family before you come back to the US of A.
Blessings,
JoanB.
You got it right, it is called zápražka, pronounced zAAHprazhka (my best attempt at phonetic spelling). I make it by just browning flour for a minute or two on a bit of melted butter. You can see it in the recipe for lettuce soup. Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment! I really like how my grandma can cook up all these tasty dishes using not much more than two pots, one frying pan and few logs of firewood.
I love lokse. My favorite filling is chicken liver for salty kind and poppyseed(we put it inside together with jam) for sweet kind. I like them greased with duck or goose fat(lard). In my family we also fill them with coldmeat and cheese, kind of like cold wraps.
Can’t wait till summer to have some again.
Hey! glad you stopped by my place in blog world- I’m always on the look out for good ethnic recipes!
Can’t wait to check some of yours out!
Quite easy way, although not traditional, is to use your leftover mashed potato. Just add some flour when it’s cold until it has a consistency of a dough and then continue as in this recipe.
My Grandma also made hers with day-old mashed potatoes. What is the correct consistency, Kristina, and how do I get the dough to that point? What I usually get is a dough that will not hold together long enough to form, and if I do get something that looks OK, bits and pieces fall apart when I roll them out. Also, I used a cast iron skillet, and I’m unsure if I’m heating it to the correct temperature. I don’t use any oil, as instructed. Thanks.
Hi. When I make lokse, I mix left over mush potatoes with flour, take handfull out and keep adding more flour until it looks like it could be rolled out. My mum says the more you kneed potatoe dough the softer it gets. And being rubbish at doughs I decided to do it the simple way. And this way my children take a part in the cooking as much as possible. In Slovakia we always had lokse on its own, only occasionally (when cooking for foreign visitors) we had them with duck and cabbage. When we have it in UK (my spoiled husband wouldn’t have it empty) I often fill it with stir fry veg and hoisin pork.
Lokše. Mňam! This was our family meal. Grandma used to make about 100 of them for any kind of family celebration. We ate it with goose fat, red stewed cabbage and grilled goose or just plain.
Hi. Well done on this website. I just wanted to add that it is important to use old potatoes. In general potatoes available here in Australia are so different to ones in Slovakia that most potatoe recipes (and there so many) are not trivial to recreate here with authenticity. For this recipe old potatoes are essential, most people in Slovakia traditionally grew their own so it was very easy for them judge the age of them, or they bought in bulk and stored them for the year, new or younger potatoes have too much moisture which requires too much flower and also the dough from new ones is very sticky and gluggy and hard to work. Basically the dough in this recipe is the same as what the Italians make for gnochi. Gnochi too are best when the least amount of flour is added. Like most slovak foods, Lokse are valid in almost any guise, are a fully fledged accompaniment to roasts (esp duck or goose roast) taking the place of potatoes or rice or dumplings. Or can be eaten alone as a snacks sold on the streets either plain or greased with dripping or savoury filled with sour cabbage or pate or sweet filled with jam or ground poppy seed and sugar. Often they appear on restaurant menus as starters/appetisers and will be savoury or amongst desserts and will be sweet.
Juraj, thanks for a great comment and a great tip. You seem to know quite a bit about cooking. I have to admit I have not considered the importance of old vs. new potatoes, but what you are saying definitely makes sense. The potatoes we used in making this recipe came from a cellar, where they were aging for quite some time.
Juraj a Lubos, “old potatoes” are really essential in making “stuff” like halusky, lokse, etc.
“New potatoes” are great to boil and use as a side dish early in the year (with a bit of butter, parsley, and spring onion you can eat it with nothing else and enjoy it) however I could never make it “right” with new potatoes when making halusky or other stuff.
Too much moisture, I was semi successful in putting shredded potatoes to a cloth and wringing out the moisture, yet, it still was not the same. Old does it, new one not so well.
cheers
My grandma always made lokse from left over mashed potatos. Always served with soup. I attempted to make it myself a year or so ago and couldn’t get the consistency right (too much moisture). My Mexican hubby, a veteran tortilla maker, took over and saved the meal!
have to do foods of your country and I am very happy to see other recipe from Slovak. I an cooking for my class and a few people at my school so I will let you know how it goes.
Its starting to get cold and damp here in Southwestern Pa., almost time to pick wild mushrooms for Christmas Eve soup and of course my appetite turned to Lokshe. In the past twenty years I have stopped at every Slovak club, community center, etc. trying to find out the trick in making them, most people have never heard of them. My Slovak Grandmother would make them for me as often as she could, they are by far my favorite snack. Just rolled with a lot of melted butter and salt. This morning I set out to try and find the right recipe and my Ask.com search led me right here. Thank you for taking the time and effort to publish this recipe, it really made my day.
It’s these kinds of recipes that maintain our customs and traditions, something I like to instill in my children. When making Lokshe with my Slovak Grandmother as a child, you put the rolled out pancake on the stove, said the Hail Mary in Slovak and then flipped it, another Hail Mary and it was ready to be basted and rolled. If you were making Pizzelles with my Italian Grandmother, you pressed the dough in the iron, said the Hail Mary in Italian, flipped and repeated. Cooking with my grandmothers was like being in church, but the end result was well worth it.
Thanks again, I look forward to reading more on your website.
Milý Luboš, oceñujem tvoju snahu. Fakt pekná stránka. Co sa týka lokší zvykneme ich jest’ ako nedel’né rañajky tu na Kanárkych, kde uz 13 rokov bývame. Ibaze ich plním netradicne. Za horúca ich potriem zrelým avokádom a posypem strúhaným syrom
a troskou oregana. Syr sa krásne nat’ahuje a lokše sú výdatnejsie. Vzdy ich jeme so surovou cervenou sladkou paprikou ako príloha takze hoci nie sú mastné sú stavnaté a navyse aj zdravsie.
Este tip k príprave: cím menej múky osahujú tým sú chutnejsie, ale cesto sa zacne lepit ak ho rýchlo nepouzijeme. Preto pripravujem cesto po troche vzdy na 4-5 lokší. Najl’ahsie sa pripravujú zo zemiakov co sú sypké nie z mazl’avých a pevných odrôd.
Dakujem! No tak to je teda fakt netradicna plnka; nepamatam ze by u starkej rastli avocados
[...] weeks, topped with cinnamon, or ground and sweetened poppy seed, or grounds nuts, or honey, or a chocolate syrup. Lokše is part of the tastes of the season. The toppings are unlimited. For the purpose of this feast lokše slathered with goose drippings or a pate of goose liver is most likely. Click here for a lokše recipe. [...]
After having Lokse in the Christmas Market in Bratislava, this has become one of my favorite things to eat. Love the Lokse with Liver. Mnam.
Oh My Goodness, I have searched for years for this recipe. I did not know the Slovak name for the potato “crepe”. My mom made these occasionally and it was always a treat for me. She would always give me one hot off the griddle and we would slather lots of butter on it and roll it up. YUM
Now if you can help me with another recipe. It was also made with potatoes, tasted like potato pancakes but was baked in a loaf pan in the oven.
Thank you so much for publishing,
The photos show exactly how my Baba made them. The thicker pancakes fried in butter are the German kind. Whenever I would talk about Baba’s potatoe pancakes people would confuse hers with the German kind because that is all they ever knew. These slovak potatoe pancakes are sooooo much more delicious. The only difference is, in our family, we only ate them with lekvar (prune butter). It was delicious! You can buy lekvar in the pie filling section usually around Easter time. It is good to hear everyone’s memories.
Hi Mary, we also make thick potato pancakes (called haruľa) in Slovakia. Check out the recipe here http://www.slovakcooking.com/2009/recipes/potato-pancakes/. Those are very popular as well, you’ll often see them as a side dish with meats.
You gotta love the traditional way of cooking. I love the simplicity of it. You don’t even need a frying pan, the stove suffices!
My thank you for showing how to make lokse! I use to watch my mother make them. She made the dough rolled to about bit, it was on the thicker side , took the handle of a butter knife and poked a few holes in it here and there, and tossed directly on the bottom of her gas oven, with racks removed, browned on one side and flipped it over a few mins. on the other side, we had butter on it and some fruit jam,many cold winter mornings walking to school! Thanks for showing how to make it, I really like your website, Where in Slovakia are you? Philka
Thank you, Philka! I am actually outside of Washington, D.C. in the United States, but my grandma lives outside of Banská Bystrica, in a small village on the way to Podbrezová. That’s where these photos were taken. I am heading to Slovakia again this summer so I’ll make sure to document more dishes, how they are made, traditionally, in Slovak houses.
My grandmother used to make lokshe in the bottom of the oven. She would pull out the racks and make the lokshe in the oven. I use mash potatoes with flour and make the lokshe on top of the stove using cast iron skillets. I melt some butter with oregano and hot sauce and brush on the lokshe. My kids love it.
Hi Jay, I have not tried to make lokse yet, it will cold and snowing here tonight in Indiana, so I am going to try it! Thanks for the iron skillet tip! Where in Slovakia is your family background?
Philka
Hi Philka,
My grandparents were from Czechslovokia. I use the cast iron griddle/skillet because they hold the heat and they are not expensive. Lokshe is easy to make and they are so good.
Thank you for writing Jay, Do you know what region or part of the former Czechoslovakia your grandparents came from? I am trying to decipher if lokse is made mostly in a particular area.
My grandparents came from Eastern Slovakia, Near Hummene”
Philka
Hi Jay, how are you? It is getting to cool weather and I am planning to make some Loksha.
My Mother made the dough from leftover mashed pototoes and flour tiny bit salt, once she rolled the dough out, she took the handle side of a butter knife and tapped on the Lokshe, to make some holes, then tossed in on the bare bottom of her oven, don’t know what temp.
I am thinking maybe 400 F. for a few mins, flip over for one min and out, She immediately buttered it and we spread lekvar or Strawberruy jam on it, ate it for breakfast with big glass of Milk or running late for school we ate it on our walk to shcool.
Hope you enjoy.
This site is so much fun!
Philka
Can you tell me how to store potatoes and how long to make sure they are old enough to use in this recipe but not too old that they’ll taste bad? Is there a certain kind of potatoes that work best?
That I don’t know
Adele, It is best to store the potatoes in a cool dark place. We always stored potatoes in the basement. Light is what makes them turn green. I would get them from a farmers market if I could. The ones in the grocery store are exposed to daylight and florescent light all the time. As to how long to hold them, I don’t know. I would think you would want to use them before they sprout or get spongy.
I agree. In Slovakia, potatoes are typically stored in komora, dark cool root cellar under the house or dug into the hill side. You can see a photo of my grandma’s cellar here: http://www.slovakcooking.com/2010/recipes/chicken-noodle-soup/
I think that older potatoes are better for something like lokshe because they are dryer and easier to work with when mixing in flour. Use boiling or all-purpose potatoes since baking potatoes like to fall apart when you boil them. This makes it more difficult to grate them.
To Philka,
I finally managed to get some time to get back to my favorite web site, Slovak cooking and recipes. As I read some of the messages, especially the ones from Jay, I realized that had to be my brother. Jay and his family have lokshe making honed to an art, he makes some of the best.
In reply to your query as to where our grandparents came from, I remember Grandma talking about when she was a little girl she would leave her home village of Tusla (not sure of the spelling or pronunciation), she pronounced it “Tooz-la”. Her family were bakers and she would deliver loaves to surrounding villages in exchange for butter, milk, etc.. Grandma taught me how to make apple pie from scratch, apple dumplings, fried doughnuts, and many other baked dishes. She was a miracle worker with dough.
We still always maintain our traditional Christmas Eve and Easter meals the way my Grandmothers prepared them. These meals are always the best of both worlds when it comes to delicious recipes, one table with traditional Slovak dishes, and the other is Italian.
Take Care and Good Cooking!
Ray
Once again I am stunned by how lokshe can be prepared. We always made them (and still do) using mashed potatoes, flour, a little salt and that’s about it. We cooked them on a steel griddle my parents had. I now use a saute pan that is heated as hot as possible. It only takes a few seconds to cook them and they “blister” and bubble a bit. Keep them hot by putting them between moistened hand towels in the oven. When you are done cooking them, brush with melted, browned butter. Roll up and eat as many as you can as quickly as you can. When everyone tastes them, there will be a fight as to who can eat the most! Browned butter is something of a specialty. It’s a bit difficult to make since it is easy to burn or undercook. When it is done right the butter takes on a nutty flavor, a bit like hazelnut. It is impossible to describe the difference between simple melted butter and browned butter. But the taste is heavenly.
Tim
To ja vzpominam,moje babicka to delala z den predem uvarenych brambor a hotove pomazala maslem maslovackou a posypala ml.cukrem!mnam,jdu varit brambory!!!
It so interesting how different immigrants brought with them variances on recipe’s ‘from Slovakia. My grandmother, and now I, make Lokshe with simply flour water and salt. After the thin cakes dry and harden, we break them into large pieces and scald them in boiling water. Then mix the soften pieces with friend sauerkraut and butter. It’s a Christmas Eve delight!
This is just GREAT. Thank you. My grandma made them with day-old mashed potatoes also. I tried making them after reading this recipe, but I could not get the dough to a handling consistency. Unlike Fiona, I do not have a skilled tortilla-maker in the house. Any tips on getting the dough to the correct consistency, especially using old mashed potatoes? Thanks, again, for publishing this recipe, and thanks for all the helpful comments.
I’m in the same boat with trying to get the consistency to roll, my mom always used leftover mashed potatoes, sauer kraut, a bit of sauer kraut juice, and flour. I’m to afraid to keep adding more flour. We always ate along with navy bean soup, having family from out of town and wanted to surprise them with loksa, not going well. My mom has Alzheimer’s and cannot answer. This recipe makes me cherish watching her make it and eating them hot off the skillet. Thx for publishing the recipe.
Áno, popisujete tradičný spôsob pečenia lokší. Dovoľujem si Vám poslať recept, ale je v slovenčine. Vrecko kyslej kapusty môže znamenať 1/2 kg alebo aj 1 kg kyslej kapusty. V takom balení sa kyslá kapusta predáva v obchode. To zvážte sama. Želá Vám dobrú chuť.
http://diva.aktuality.sk/recept/30812/tradicne-lokse-s-kapustou/
When my grandmother made Lokse she would boil 10 lbs of potatoes to feed her 7 children and the wives and grandchildren. Assembly line style. She would roll, and slap on the top of the stove, one daughter in law would flip and another would butter. Sometime it was hard to keep up to keep the plate full of the 10 inch rounds of goodness. Just another memory this website is giving me. Thank you so much.
The wood stove is long gone and my father bought 2 cast iron rimless skillets. Pretty good substitute.
Irene,
I use two cast iron griddles on top of the stove and they are great for making lokshe. My wife always makes extra mashed potatoes (10lbs extra)so we have lokshe the next day. We start out with the butter and salt, then we started making them with a hot wing sauce and yesterday we brown some butter, onions and saurkraut and rolled the lokshe with the saurkraut inside. They were great. We also have an assembly line, one mixes potatoes and flour, one rolls the dough, one flips the dough and one does the butter or wing sauce or saurkraut.
Jay
lokse, yum, I may make me some toningt
I was just taling to my brother about how I wished I paid more attention to my mothers cooking. I’m 66 and never thought I’d ever have them again but so I’m thrilled to have found the recepie from you. My mouth is watering just remembering helping her butter them after cooking them in a large cast iron frying pan. Again, thank you so much!