Proper American Pancakes

DON'T, from some misguided egalitarian impulse, wrap them in a cloth or put them in a warm oven until you've cooked the lot, as they'll go flaccid and lose a great deal of their charm. Pancakes are an action breakfast

Halve recipe if there are only two of you for breakfast - you'll still get three pancakes each, which is enough for the all-important stack...

1. Sift together into a big bowl:

1.5 cups plain flour
1 heaped teaspoon baking power
1 teaspoon salt - IF you're using unsalted butter

Also, IF you're planning to add fruit (blueberries or raspberries):

1 tablespoon caster sugar
A tiny bit (0.5 teaspoon?) of bicarbonate of soda

2. Melt 1.5 oz butter in a little saucepan. Do NOT allow to brown at all. Remove from heat.

3. In a smaller bowl, lightly beat (with a fork):

2 eggs

4. Add:

1 cup whole milk (have some to spare)
The melted butter

5. Mix the liquids into the solids in the big bowl. If the mixture is terribly thick (thicker than rich double cream), add a little more milk (up to 0.75 cup). But too thick is better than too thin to start with.

If you're using fruit - blueberries are best - add

1 cup fruit

now. Don't worry about lumps; don't worry about having the right amount of fruit, don't even worry too much about the thickness of the batter. The only bit that really matters is about to happen.

6. Heat a heavy frying pan (or griddle, if you have one) over a medium heat. Give it two, three, four minutes. The right heat is CRUCIAL. As it heats, test it by running your fingers under the cold tap and flicking a few drops of water onto the pan. If they just sit there, it's still too cold. If they hiss and disappear, it's too hot - remove it for a minute or two. If they sit a split second, start to bubble and then evaporate, it's just right. You're ready to cook.

NO grease is needed - the butter in the batter does all the work.

7. Get the breakfast eaters around the table, with butter and maple syrup (and bacon) at the ready. Pancakes should always be eaten fresh from the pan - DON'T, from some misguided egalitarian impulse, wrap them in a cloth or put them in a warm oven until you've cooked the lot, as they'll go flaccid and lose a great deal of their charm. Pancakes are an action breakfast.

Using a soup ladle about half full, spoon three or four pancakes into your pan. They should be about four inches or so across - but it's up to you. Only, if they spread too widely across the pan, your batter is too thin, and if they sit in a great lump, your batter is too thick. Adjust as necessary (adding milk is more successful than adding flour, but you can actually do either). Mainly, just have faith. Let them cook. They'll start to bubble on top and begin to dry out. Lift the edge and peer underneath. If they're a light golden brown, flip with a spatula. The second side takes less time than the first, and any blueberries that were standing proud will be miraculously hot and cooked when the second side is done.

8. When the first round is done, flip them all onto the first lucky eater's plate so that they can get buttering. If there's a LOT of rivalry and you've done four at once, you could serve them two and two. But really, they should be individually buttered, stacked at least three at a time, and syrup poured over the stack. Get the second lot going IMMEDIATELY. You'll find that actually, they take just long enough to cook for the cook to eat a stack in between two rounds. That's the way God invented them.