You know a company is proud of its frozen pizza when every person involved in its creation is credited by name on the box. So it is with Ionian Awakening, a new personal-size gourmet pizza ($5.99) from American Flatbread in Waitsfield, Vermont. Made with kalamata olives, feta, red onions, mozzarella, and tomato sauce, it’s enhanced by an organic-wheat-flour crust that’s slightly bubbly and chewy around its corners. Just a quick warming-up on an oven rack or baking stone, and this pizza tastes like something lovingly homemade.
The box itself also offers a lesson in tradition and history: while you’re waiting for the pizza to heat up, you can read the text that covers the cardboard even on the inside end flaps. No microwave directions here. Instead, it describes Neolithic baking methods in detail for those who wish to avail themselves of a flat rock and wood or charcoal. Learn how the ancient Greeks made bread by hand for centuries, and, more recently, how American Flatbread first baked its bread " in a primitive wood-fired earthen oven " at a bakery/restaurant located in a restored barn at the Lareau Farm in Vermont’s Mad River Valley.
Sold at many markets in the know, including Bread & Circus, 15 Washington Street, Brookline, (617) 738-8187; and other locations. Several varieties are available; contact www.americanflatbread.com.