Breakfast pancakes

I used to think that breakfast stacks of pancakes, dribbling maple syrup down the sides, were things that only happen to Americans, like junior proms, or the right to bear arms.
Sure, there are plenty of recipes for the things, and I´ve even tried my hand at them now and then. But they seemed like a big deal. No matter that they always begin with some words about how easy it is, and how it takes less and no time, and how you can do them for a weekday breakfast. I always ended up a nervous wreck surrounded by bowls and scales and meassuring devices, with bits of flung about pancake in my hair. The things themselves would be unrecognizable in their shape, and either black or milky white.They still dissappeared fast into J´s mouth, but that´s nothing. The man will eat anything.

I decided they were a myth. From now on, I´d only have them when going seriously cold turkey, and it would be the Spanish way. Three big pancakes, with whipped cream and caramel, in the afternoon, at Vip´s.

Mark Bittman saved the day again. He did a column, and one of those videos, and I must say it looked easy. Very. Specially because there was precious little meassuring involved. Which is all to the good if it´s breakfast we´re talking about, when one is groggy and carefully tipping flour into a bowl until it reaches the 125 gr. mark can be a bit much.
I was still a bit sceptic, though. It couldn´t be as easy as it looked, surely? Well, beleive me, my European friends and neighbours, it was. Wonderful.
So, here´s the video. And the recipe, so easy that it can be memorized:

One cup of flour, one of milk, one egg, one teaspoon of baking powder, one tablespoon of sugar, one pinch of salt.
Mix it in a bowl ( maybe the milk and egg first in another, it´s no big deal), easy does it, with a whisk. No electric devices needed, they´ll only make the thing gluey later. In a few seconds the thing looks like a real batter, it´s magic. Then, here´s my favourite bit, cut a knob of butter and spear it with the point of a knife. Smear the pan with it, so it melts, and there´s perfection for you, a think film of butter on which you now pour the batter. Use a spoon or a small ladle to put it in the pan, where it will make neat little circles all by itself! And in a few seconds they´ll bubble up, and now is when you turn them. A little flip should be enough. In a couple of seconds the other side is done, and voilá.
Go on like this and in a few minutes, I promise, you have your very own stack, just like in the movies. And there won´t be a shoot-out in the diner.
You won´t have free refills of coffee, though, because that is a thing that really only happens to Americans.