San Francisco Bakery Makes Life-Sized Han Solo Out of Bread

A mother and daughter duo combined their bakery wizardry to recreate one of Star Wars’ most famous scenes: Han Solo trapped in carbonite by Tatooine gangster Jabba the Hutt. Using flour, water and sugar, it took a whole month for Hannalee Pervan and her mother Catherine Pervan to bring the 6-foot creation to life.

Every detail was beautifully captured, from the contours of his body to his outstretched hands and agonized expression. When their faithful recreation was ready, the duo gave him the fitting name “Pan Solo.” 

According to The New York Times, it now sits on display outside their shop, One House Bakery in Benicia, California. A chalkboard beside it reads, “Our hero Pan Solo has been trapped in Levainite by the evil Java the Hut.” 

“People are just super interested by it, and you see people smelling it and poking it and they’re just like, ‘What is going on?’” said Hanalee Pervan, the shop’s co-owner and head baker. “They kind of don’t believe you that it’s made out of dough.”

In order to achieve the skillful feat, they made Pan Solo out of dead dough. Ms. Pervan learned how to make the yeast-free dough several years ago at a baking conference called Wheat Stalk, which inspired her to begin baking Halloween decorations.

The mother and daughter duo share more than a love for baking, they’re also self-described science fiction nerds. 2018 saw the opening of their family bakery along with the first display-worthy pop cultural recreation humorously named Game of Scones. It featured a White Walker next to an iron throne of baguettes.

A positive reaction from passer-bys encouraged them to continue baking wonderful characters like “Pain-dough-lorian,” “Baby Dough-da” and “the Pandroid,” all inspired by the popular TV show “The Mandalorian.”

The creative streak continued with last year’s “Dough-ki,” their take on the alligator Loki from Marvel television series “Loki” that stars Tom Hiddleston.

They were originally inspired to begin making bread sculptures by Benicia’s local Downtown Scarecrow Contest, a Halloween celebration where local businesses display creative scarecrows. 

After losing much of her sense of smell and taste to COVID-19 in January 2021, making Pan Solo was a meaningful experience for Ms. Pervan. “[So] just to find joy in a different part of food is really important,” she said.

The long hours crafting the special creation with her daughter was worth every minute.