I have tried many, many pancake recipes over the past few years since I stopped buying mixes. I've googled everything from whole wheat to oat flour pancakes. My family has patiently eaten all the flat pancakes with a smiles on their faces because, after all, syrup makes everything taste good. 
Then finally, about a year ago, I flipped through a cookbook that has been used in my family for as long as I can remember. My mom used this cookbook for many recipes over the years. A few years ago, she bought my sister and I our own copy from ebay. My copy is as wonderfully worn as her copy is. This "Brand New" edition of The Good Housekeeping Cookbook was published in 1973 (5 years before I was born). I'm so happy to have this cookbook to refer to when making chicken and dumplings just like mom makes... or the perfect pie crust... or how long to roast a chicken..
I found the perfect pancake recipe on page 430. It's a very basic recipe that produces fluffy pancakes that have nice flavor and are slightly sweet. I usually double the following recipe and reheat the extras for breakfast the next morning.
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Pancakes (makes about 12 small pancakes or 8 medium pancakes)
1 1/4 cups flour (I use half whole wheat pastry flour and half All-Purpose)
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. canola oil
1 1/3 cups. milk (I use 1 cup since I like thicker batter=taller pancakes)
1 egg
*You can also add chocolate chips, blueberries, sprinkles, etc. to make your pancakes more fun*
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Mix all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix all the wet ingredients in a small bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir ONLY until just combined. If you mix any more then that you'll have tough pancakes.
Pour into a medium hot pan and flip when they're ready... (I made blueberry pancakes)
This is when I know they're ready to flip. The outer edge looks set and there are a few bubbles rising to the surface. You can always use the edge of a spatula to peak underneath to see how brown the underside is before you flip them.
They should be about this brown before you flip them... then cook them until the other side looks the same.Then stack them up and top them how you like them.
On my blueberry pancakes, I like a good bit of butter and a bit of syrup.Jon likes his swimming in syrup. Charlotte likes hers without "chunks" unless it's sprinkles and likes to dip her pancakes into her syrup. Evan likes to hunt for the blueberries in his, pull them out and eat them first, then dip the remaining pancake in the syrup.
Any way you top them or eat them, they are fantastic every time!
