Now top the beans up with enough fresh water to cover by a couple of inches, and add a generous pinch of salt to the pot. (Once again, the salt allows for more even cooking and fewer ruptured beans.)
I always cook my beans with some aromatics, like onion, carrot, garlic, and woodsy herbs such as rosemary, sage, bay leaf, and/or thyme. It’s not necessarily traditional to do this for Boston baked beans, but the aromatics always add enough of a flavor boost to all my bean dishes that I see no reason not to do it here as well.
Bring the pot to a gentle simmer, then cook the beans until they’re done. I made the mistake early on in my testing of precooking them to just shy of doneness, and the result was an endless baking time due to the powerful effect of molasses. Take my word for it: You want the beans creamy and tender before they even go in the oven.
