American Breakfast Pancakes

These are those thick, spongy American pancakes that are often eaten with warm maple syrup and crisp fried bacon. I love them with the syrup alone, but if you do want bacon, I think streaky is best: you want a crisp salty ribbon of it here. You can easily cook these pancakes by dolloping the batter onto a hot griddle (smooth, not ridged, side) or cast-iron pan, but I use a blini pan, one of my pet implements.