A popiah skin is a soft, paper-like crepe made from what flour?

A popiah skin is a soft, paper-like crepe made from wheat flour.

Unlike a crisp fried spring-roll wrapper, a popiah skin is designed to stay flexible and tender. The dough is mixed with a large amount of water until it becomes extremely wet and viscous, then cooked into a very thin layer on a hot steel plate.

Traditional makers use a distinctive rubbing technique. They hold a ball of dough and sweep it rapidly across the heated plate, leaving behind a thin film that cooks almost immediately. Excess dough is dabbed away, and the finished skin is peeled off before it becomes brittle.

The wheat wrapper is only one part of the popiah’s texture. Its softness allows it to fold around moist fillings such as cooked turnip or jicama, bean sprouts, lettuce, tofu, omelet, peanuts, and sauces without cracking. That is why rice flour is a tempting but incorrect choice: rice-paper wrappers are associated with other fresh rolls, especially Vietnamese-style rolls, while classic popiah skin is wheat-based.

Popiah is normally eaten fresh rather than fried, although fried popiah variants are also found in parts of Southeast Asia.