public int PersistEntity(T entity)
{
    var newRecords = 0;
    using (var context = new myEntities())
    {
        using (var dbcontext = context.Database.BeginTransaction())
        {
            var entity = new tblEntity();
            // ...
            context.tblEntities.Add(entity);
            //context.tblEntities.Attach(entity); // also tried this without success.

            try
            {
                newRecords = context.SaveChanges();
                dbcontext.Commit();
            }
            catch (DbUpdateException)
            {
                throw; // thrown on context.SaveChanges()
            }
        }
    }
    return newRecords;
}