Too many commercial baked beans have questionable ingredients, so I began growing my own dried beans and making homemade baked beans. I found this recipe on cooks.com. It is a recipe for canning beans, but it also works well for large gatherings. We made this recipe for my sons graduation party and have just a small pan left over.
1 qt. dried navy beans (I used pinto), about 2 pounds
2 tsp salt (for soaking beans)
1/2 lb lean salt pork, cut into 1″ cubes
3 onions, sliced (optional)
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. dry mustard
2/3 cup molasses
Cover beans with 3 quarts cold water, add 2 tsp salt to the water, and soak for 12-18 hours in a cool place. Rinse beans. Cover with 3 quarts of fresh water and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over low heat until skins begin to crack.Drain.
Put the beans into a crock pot. Add salt pork and onions. Mix remaining ingredients together and stir into pot along with 4 cups of water.
Cover and bake on low for 3 1/2 hours. Add water if need, as the beans cook to keep the beans “soupy”. If serving at a party you do not need to keep it soupy and can serve when desired consistency. If canning you want the beans to be a bit soupy.
Pack into hot canning jars leaving 1″ of head space. Process pints for 1 hour and 20 minutes, quarts at 1 hour 35 minutes at 10#'s of pressure ( you might have to adjust for altitude).
Makes about 6 pints.