In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and poppy seeds.

In a second bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs, vanilla extract, lemon zest, and lemon juice.

Slowly drizzle melted butter into wet ingredients while whisking until well-combined. Don't combine wet and dry ingredients until you are ready to cook the pancakes.

Preheat pan onto medium-low heat, or heat electric griddle to 325°.

Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and fold until just combined. Avoid overmixing. Acid in the lemon juice and buttermilk will react with the baking powder and baking soda to create a light, fluffy batter, which is why we want to do this as close to cooking time as possible.

Lightly brush pan or griddle with neutral oil (I have always preferred corn oil for pancakes) and place on burner on medium-low heat.

Allow pancake to cook until edges begin to appear cooked. Some pancake recipes say to watch for bubbles to pop, I found this batter thick enough that it didn't release a lot of bubbles. But when you see a ring of lightly-cooked cake form around the outer edge of the pancake, it's a good time to flip. Cook several more minutes until pancake is golden brown.

Add more oil between each batch and repeat until batter is gone. Top with butter and maple syrup.