Fresh wide rice noodles

Combine two parts regular rice flour with one part tapioca starch.

Add water little by little until a soft dough forms and knead about five minutes so the starch hydrates, giving chewier, shinier, more elastic noodles.

Add the rest of the water all at once and dissolve the dough into a smooth batter. Variation: skip kneading, add all the water at once and rest the batter overnight.

Bring the steamer to a boil. Whisk the batter before every sheet because the starch settles. Oil the pan thoroughly but lightly with paper, sides included; too much oil pools and dents the noodles.

Set the pan in the steamer, pour in the batter - a quarter cup for a nine by six inch pan - and jiggle until the bottom sets with full coverage. Cover and steam exactly one minute, until it bubbles underneath or the top turns matte.

Cool the sheet completely, dunking the pan in an ice bath or running cold tap water under it, five to ten seconds; warm noodles leave gumminess on the pan.

Brush the top generously with oil, run a spatula round the edges, peel the sheet off and lay it on an oiled plate. Scrape off any big gummy patch before the next sheet. Repeat, about eight sheets per pound.

Use the sheets right away, refrigerate them in sheets for a few days, or freeze them cut but unseparated in a thin stack; reheat in the microwave to soften before separating.

Cut off any thick edge, then cut the sheets into noodles about three quarters of an inch wide.