One way to save money is to make your own bread.  Sometimes, however, you miss the texture and fluffiness of "store bought" bread.  One way to improve homemade bread is to add dough enhancer.  With a trip to the health food store you can buy then ingredients to make your own inexpensively.  Here is what you need:

2 cups wheat gluten
4 tablespoons lecithin granules
2 teaspoon ascorbic acid crystals (Fruit Fresh)
1 cup nonfat dry milk
2 teaspoon powdered ginger

Combine all these in a bowl and then store in a tight sealing container (I use a canning jar with a lid) in the refrigerator.  You can easily double or halve this recipe depending on how often you bake bread.  When making white bread, you need only one tablespoon per loaf.  For whole wheat bread, I use 1 tablespoon per cup of flour.

There are also many other recipes online  that use other ingredients like gelatin, pectin, etc.  This is a recipe that I have used and like.  It softens the bread and it also extends its yumminess.  Here is a good sort of tutorial on how these ingredients work.

For more Tightwad Tuesday tips, go to Mary's blog!