I never have problems with dry beans, but one time I tried to make baked beans using dry beans. they never got soft enough. I read somewhere after that that there are certain things (don't remember what they are) that you have to wait and add later. These things keep the beans from softening up. Seems that it was tomatoes or tomato products. Anyway, whatever it was was in my recipe and I attributed it to that. Haven't tried to make baked beans with dried beans since that.