American pancakes

American pancakes are small, thick, leavened griddle cakes, ten to fifteen centimetres across and a centimetre or more high, made from a batter of flour, milk or buttermilk, egg, melted butter, a little sugar and baking powder or soda, cooked on a flat-top and served in a stack with butter and maple syrup. The thickness is the whole difference from a French crêpe or a Dutch pannenkoek: chemical leavening makes the batter rise on the griddle into a soft, open crumb, and the stack of three is the standard diner order, with bacon, sausage or eggs alongside at breakfast. They descend from the griddle cakes of colonial New England, where cornmeal johnnycakes came first and wheat flour pancakes followed, and the name "flapjack" and "hotcake" survive regionally for the same thing. Buttermilk pancakes, where the acid reacts with baking soda, are the diner and home standard; blueberry, chocolate chip and banana are the common additions, folded in or dropped onto the raw top.