I have no doubt that this works. I have tried the soaking in water and even tried it soaked in cold water in the fridge, this made no difference without step 2, in fact it made things worse as extra cooking time was needed.
That said whilst my results will never be as crisp, they are not soggy in any way either, hold their own and to me that extra crispness is just not enough of an 'improvement' for me to merit a double cooking.