During soaking, beans soak up their lost water increasing up to twice their dried size.

Soaking Beans and Legumes: All dry beans and legumes except lentils, mung beans, and split peas should be soaked before cooking. Soaking shortens the cooking time and makes the beans more digestible. To soak, cover the washed beans with four times their volume of water, then choose one of these soaking techniques.

Normal soak: Leave the beans to soak for 4-8 hours. This is the traditional and healthier method of soaking beans. (If you put them on to soak at night, they'll be waiting for you whenever you're ready the next day.)

Quick soak: Bring the beans to a boil for one minute, cover, and let sit for one hour.

The beans are soaked once they are uniformly tender.

After soaking, you have two choices:

1. Drain the soaking water, rinse the beans, and cook with fresh water
2. Cook with the soaking water

The first reduces flatulence, while the second provides more nutrients.