Pancakes - Small Batch
Batter
First bowl (dry ingredients):
5 oz Flour (all purpose)
1 Tbsp Baking powder
½ tsp Salt
Whisk together.
Second, larger bowl (wet ingredients):
3 Tbsp Sugar
3 Tbsp Oil (corn is best)
1 Egg (large)
Beat together, then add the following.
1 cup Milk
½ tsp Vanilla
Beat together. Add dry ingredients to wet and beat all together until smooth. Let stand several minutes to set while heating griddle to 350°F.
Notes
I was taught to barely mix, even leaving the batter lumpy, as for a quick bread, but this is wrong. Instead you want to beat it thoroughly, generating some gluten, and then let it set.
Letting the batter set is important. You might even want to give it 10 minutes or more. Don't stir after it's set. Setting allows the starches in the flour to bloom and the baking powder to activate, but if you disturb the batter too much after setting you'll knock out the leavening and make your pancakes flatter and denser.
If you must add chocolate chips (don't, because chocolate does bad things to your griddle) I recommend mini chips. You can pour some batter into a bowl, taking care to disturb it as little as possible, add some chips (really don't, it's not worth it), and fold into the batter with a rubber spatula that you'll then use to get that batter back out of the bowl and onto the griddle. This helps keep chocolate chips off your griddle without knocking to much gas out of the batter (if you're careful). Also just don't. I love chocolate, but this is not the way.
If your griddle isn't non-stick enough anymore (maybe you ignored my advice about chocolate?), a good way to help the first couple of batches is to get some butter on the tip of a knife and dab the tip in the center of where you'll pour the batter. When you pour the batter, the melted butter will spread around it, keeping the griddle greased right where you need it. If the griddle is very hot, the butter will scorch quickly, so be ready to pour batter, and do a couple or a few at a time. After you've cooked a few batches, the pancakes and butter will have left enough grease to omit the dab of butter from later batches. This will give your early pancakes a fried texture, but some folks like that.
Pour to a little less than the size you want, or to make them fit without touching (they will spread some) for the number you want at a time. I don't recommend huge pancakes if you don't have a huge industrial griddle. Because the batter is colder, the middle will stay cold longer and you'll get a little volcano in the middle after you flip it. My guess is that the pros let their batter come to room temperature and pour a circle so that it starts thinner in the middle, but I don't really know.
Cook the first side until bubbles begin to pop on the top, and edges lose their gloss. Temperature variations make this tricky, so when they're less liquid you can peak to see if the bottom is golden brown yet, if you need to. Flip when the first side is browned. Cooking at a lower temperature for longer can help if you're having trouble getting it right. When you're good at it you might get away with a higher temperature to cook them faster.
Cook the second side until the first side (now the top) softens again. Test by gently swiping the middle of the pancake with your finger, right after flipping, so that you know what it feels like to start. Then periodically to check if escaping steam has softened it, by gently swiping your finger on the top again (keep your hands sanitary please). Again, you can lift the pancake to peak at the color if needed, or even flip and then flip back if not ready yet.
History
The ingredients are the original Grandma King's Hotcakes recipe found in my own Grandma Jorgensen's copy of a Salina Ward cookbook; also known as the "one egg" batch at my Dad's place. The large (or "three egg") pancake recipe I published earlier was the right size for my family of six at the time. You can, of course, double or triple the recipe as you like.
The procedure is improved from the original and the suggestion of Vanilla was added.