Slow-cooker baked beans

[Kajikit]

I'm starting with dried white beans... do I need to boil/soak them first? The recipes I've found online can't seem to make up their minds!

[NE_Elaine]

I have found that my baked beans come out much better when I soak overnight rather than the quick-soak or no-soak methods.

There was a thread about brining the beans...
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/619965
... and I think I might give that a try the next time I make baked beans. I had never heard about that approach before.

[Olivia]

I've found that beans + acid = hard, tough beans, and would even err on the side of cooking them first based on one batch I did of beans in tomato sauce.

vafarmwife and cheryl: do you find that just soaking is sufficient? Do your recipes include tomatoes or other acids?

[vafarmwife]

I'm a real fan of slow cookers, except with beans. I prefer to do baked beans in the oven and brown beans on top of the stove. I will put canned beans into the crock pot, but just soaked beans don't seem to soften up for me. Maybe I'm not doing something right.

[jackpack]

I need some advice. I soaked my beans overnight and put everything in my slow cooker for 10 hours. They came out hard but the flavor was wonderful. Is there anything that I can do to them now to make them soft and palatable?

[Cherylptw]

Soak them overnight before cooking. I learned the hard way..didn't soak and put into the crock pot for 12 hours and they were hard as a rock.

[vafarmwife]

I would definitely soak them first since you're using a slow cooker otherwise you will end up with hard beans.