I don't have an convection oven, but I'd think the food dehydrating/bread proofing temperature would be fine.

My yogurt ferments at a minimum of 110 but no more than 120F, so if your oven will do that, it'll work.

Annie

I ferment my yogurt in a bowl, covered with saran wrap, under a bent over, goose neck desk lamp. Works fine. When I had an old fashioned(!) gas oven, that actually had a pilot light, I put the bowl in the oven. That worked fine too.

Making yogurt is nowhere near as complicated as it is sometimes made out to be. Remember, people have been making it for probably as many years as humankind has domesticated milk-bearing animals and that without thermometers and fancy appliances.

I've got a small Salton maker -not the style with all the cups. It makes one quart, I think, at a time. Easy to clean up, I love it!

I've also made it in a thermos by preheating the thermos with hot water, heating the milk to the proper temp, whisking in the natural yogurt with live cultures (usually Dannon or Stonyfield Farm), pouring into thermos and capping, and let sit until it firms up.
Teresa

I started out making yogurt in a cooler with hot water, cover the cooler with a towel. It worked.

Now I stick 6 quarts at a time into my old dehydrator, set it on 115F and let it for for 8 or 10 hours, just like that, it's yogurt.

Making yogurt is easy, the only problem I've ever experienced is that when I use my current batch of yogurt to start the next batch, it gets more and more "sour" and eventually less thick. Then I go buy a container of greek yogurt and start a new batch.

Annie

I just made a quart of yogurt yesterday in a Yogourmet Yogurt Maker, one of many yogurt makers I've owned over the 30+ years I've made yogurt. I've also used the heating pad and the cooler method, but I'm a gadget person - hence a yogurt maker. I also use my Yogourmet Yogurt Maker to keep the starter for Salt-Rising Bread at a constant temperature when I make it, so that's my secondary use for it.

As the other said, pick a method or gadget, they generally all work well, yogurt is pretty forgiving. If one method doesn't suit you, try another one. Do you want to make a quart or two (all one flavor) at a time? Would you rather make several 8-oz. containers at once? With the 8-oz. containers you can make each container a different flavor (i.e., use 1 T. Quik Chocolate Milk Powder for chocolate milk yogurt; 1 T. plain or crunchy peanut butter for peanut butter yogurt; 1 t. vanilla extract and 2-3 t. sugar for vanilla yogurt; 3 T. grated cucumber - drained - plus 1/8 t. dill weed and a dash of garlic salt for cucumber yogurt, add some jam, jelly, fruit....)

I'd suggest a good thermometer over a digital yogurt maker. I have an instant-read yogurt thermometer which highlights the temperature window to heat your milk to, and temperature window when you add your starter. Any candy or instant read thermometer will work just as well.

The important temperatures to remember are:

-Heat your "milk" to 190-210°F.

-Cool to 110°-115°F (then add your culture/starter)

-Incubate between 105°-120°F.

The lower the temperature is when you add the starter (110°F), the more mild your yogurt will be. The higher the temperature (115°F or more) the more tart your yogurt will be. Neither is right or wrong, just a choice. I like mild yogurt when I make flavored yogurt or a dessert yogurt, and tart yogurt when using it for yogurt cheese.

The cooler the incubating temperature (below 105°F), the bacteria in the starter becomes less active and takes longer to grow. Temperatures over 120°F. will kill the bacteria.

-It usually takes about 4-hours to ferment.

-The longer you ferment it, the more tart it will be.

-Don't giggle or move it during fermentation or it can destroy the curd and you'll have yogurt "soup".

-Stirring the yogurt after it's done will also destroy the curd.

You can purchase dry powder packets of culture, which cost a LOT, or use store-bought yogurt or a portion from your last batch. I suggest using Stonyfield Farm Yogurt as a starter, if it's available, because it's the only brand of yogurt that contains SIX live, active cultures. Most other yogurt products, as well as the powder cultures, contain only 2 lactic acid bacteria.

I use 3 T. yogurt per quart of "milk" and put the remainder of the purchased yogurt in the freezer in small containers containing 3 T. for when I need a new starter. I just thaw it in the refrigerator before using it.

If you get really excited about making yogurt, check your local library for yogurt-specific books. You'll find lots of recipes for making yogurt, as well as recipes to use it in. I've worn out a copy of "Yogurt Cookery" by Sophie Kay (copyright 1978). I made a recipe from that book with cornstarch in it yesterday, which is very smooth and creamy to use as a dessert yogurt. You can make "Sweet Vanilla Yogurt" with sweetened condensed milk as a portion of the milk. Yogurt made with whipping cream is also great used as a dessert yogurt along with fruit. If you prefer non-fat yogurt, use non-fat dry milk powder (possibly add some unflavored gelatin to give it some "body"). There are all kinds of recipes for yogurt, so try a bunch of them.

If you make a sweetened yogurt, you can't use a portion to culture your next batch. You can only use plain yogurt as a culture.

A great cookbook for using yogurt is "Stonyfield Farm Yogurt Cookbook" by Meg Cadoux Hirshberg.

I don't often make yogurt these days, but make kefir with real kefir grains and milk-of-choice. The curd in kefir is easier to digest than yogurt. Kefir is made at room temperature in a quart jar and less fickle than yogurt; and is also much better for you than yogurt.

You use the kefir grains over and over and never need a new culture/starter. The grains grow and you have more to share with others. I use kefir everyday for it's whey, as a substitute for buttermilk, drained and used as a substitute for plain yogurt, sour cream and cream cheese. It's the base for our smoothies each morning. So consider kefir as another cultured milk product.

-Grainlady

"Don't giggle or move it during fermentation or it can destroy the curd and you'll have yogurt "soup"."

Yogurt making must be pretty serious business at your house!
(just teasing!)

Engage brain before moving fingers...

That's JIGGLE, she said with a giggle (snork)!

-Grainlady

Had me doing more than giggling here!!

And I'll probably giggle every time I make yogurt now....

Deanna

Do you add dried milk when making yogurt?

I've only made three batches so far. The first two were without dried milk; one was a rather thin consistency but tasted fine, and the other hardly set up at all, but I think it may have been inadvertently jolted.

I added dried milk powder to the last batch and it was much firmer, but kind of...slimy in a weird way and I don't think I really like the taste of the milk powder.

msventoux, sometimes I add milk, sometimes I don't, but I like to make fat free yogurt from skim milk and so I add nonfat dry milk to that to make it thicker.

Whole milk I don't add any, it thickens better for me than skim does.

Annie

Thanks Annie. I've been using 2% milk, so that might be part of the problem. Maybe I'll switch to whole milk until I can reliably get the texture I want then try to work my way back to 2% or skim.

I make my yogurt from 2% milk, and it doesn't get as firm as whole milk does. When the yogurt is set enough that I see the whey clearly separate from the (semi) solid yogurt, if it smells and tastes right, I line a colander with a finely woven but thin cotton dishcloth. Pouring the yogurt in, the whey drains through. Then, I put the colander over a bowl big enough to catch any dripping, but small enough so that there is plenty of room under the bottom of the colander to keep the yogurt out of the whey that will drip out.

I leave it until the yogurt is the texture I want (this can take an hour, or several, depending on various factors) occasionally scraping the sides with a rubber spatula so that the thicker edges don't prevent the wetter middle from draining.

It's a similar process to making yogurt cheese, but without putting a weight on the yogurt.

Cheesecloth is not densely woven enough for this process. Muslin or some other light cotton fabric works best.

There are yogurt cheese sieves on the market, the latest appears to be the Wave cheese maker. I have some plastic fine mesh sieves that were very cheap years ago and that work fine. I've also used a coffee filter holder lined with a paper filter to drain the yogurt to make cheese. The longer it drains, the firmer the cheese. And while it is spreadable after several days of draining in the fridge, it still is not as thick as cream cheese, but quite delicious on toasted English muffins or bagels for breakfast. I've also made cheesecake with the yogurt cheese.

Yogurt sieves? I'll have to look about. I'm intrigued by the yogurt cheese cheesecake.

A bit off topic, but since yogurt cheese has been mentioned, I'm posting the recipe for one of my favorite party nibbles. You gotta love hors d'oeuvres that you can make days or weeks ahead of time and just whip out on 5 minutes notice and still impress people.

I'm including my yogurt recipe 'cause it was attached for the sake of anyone who hasn't made it yet:

Yogurt

Heat 1 quart of milk to the boiling point for just 1 minute. Cool to 115 degrees (lukewarm to the touch). Pour into a heavy ceramic bowl. Mix in 2 T of fresh, plain yogurt (must have active cultures). Cover tightly with plastic wrap and set in a warm place. An oven with a pilot light is good, I use a goose-neck desk lamp bent low over the bowl. I know some people who use a heating pad set on low under the bowl. According to the recipe, 110 is the ideal temperature, but remember that people have been making yogurt for thousands of years without benefit of thermometers. Essentially, it should be warmer than youd like a bath to be if you were going to spend a half an hour in it, but as warm as youd like a bath to be if you came home on a cold winter night and wanted to warm up.

The yogurt should be ready in about 5 to 8 hours. Tilt the bowl to see if it holds together. The longer you allow the yogurt to sit, the more sour it will be.

Line a colander with a thin cloth, such as a dish towel or muslin. Pour the yogurt into the colander and allow it to drain for at least an hour. Refrigerate.

Note: It does not help speed or improve the process to add extra yogurt starterin fact, it can make for a lower quality product. The cultures have to have enough food to poop enough yogurtsorry, I couldnt help myself.

You can make yogurt with 2 % milk if you like, but it takes longer and you need to strain it more.

Yogurt Cheese in Olive Oil

Pour home made yogurt into a sieve lined with a thin cloth, such as a dish towel or muslin. Fold the ends of the cloth over the top of the yogurt, top with a plate big enough to mostly cover the yogurt but small enough that it wont get hung up on the sides of the strainer as the yogurt gets pressed down. Weigh the plate down with a large jar or lidded tupperware bowl full of water and set the sieve over a bowl to drain. Be sure and empty the bowl from time to time so that the yogurt isnt sitting in its own whey.

I generally do this overnight, but times can vary depending on the weight etc.

You want a product about the texture of cream cheese.

Form the yogurt cheese into balls about 1 " in size, rolling them in your hands.

Pack the balls into sterilized jars with an herb mix sprinkled over each layer. Fill the jar with extra virgin olive oil. Store for at least 2 days to moogle the flavors, and up to about 3 weeks in the fridge.

For the herb mix, I usually use dried red chilli pepper flakes, fresh rosemary & oregano (minced), fresh garlic sliced paper thin and salt. Then I add other things to suit my fancy. Herbs, minced onions, spices etc. Get playful. I dont know how to measure amounts, but remember that only a bit of the flavored oil will make it onto the cracker or bread with the cheese, so you almost cant put too much "stuff" in the oil.

The "cheese" balls should be served with their spiced oil.

There are a number of yogurt cheese makers on the market, which are a great gadget for draining the whey out of the curd from both yogurt or kefir.

I have a Galloping Gourmet Yogurt Cheese Maker I've used for years. I also use a permanent coffee basket (they have a fine mesh screen that works well for the purpose), and it works for 2 cups of yogurt/kefir and fits perfectly in my glass 2-cup measuring cup. I can toss either of these in the dishwasher after using it. Much less mess than using layers of paper towels or cheesecloth for draining yogurt.

Some general information from "The Yogurt Gourmet" by Anne Lanigan.

One cup of yogurt gives up 25% of it's volume in 5 minutes (of draining); 2 cups gives up 18% and a quart only 12% after 5 minutes.

DRAINED YOGURT - Yogurt that has drained for about 10 minutes.

THICK YOGURT - Yogurt that has drained for at least 30 minutes. It will be thick but still soft -- it will not retain its shape on a flat surface or the mark of a finger indentation. One hour's draining is ideal if you want thick yogurt.

YOGURT CHEESE - Yogurt that has drained for 8 hours or longer. It is the consistency of cream cheese, will hold its shape and retain the mark of a finger indentation.

YOGURT CREAM - Heavy cream made into yogurt by the addition of 1 t. yogurt to 1-cup of cream. Works well as a substitute for creme fraiche.

Note: One quart of yogurt will yield approximately 1-1/3 cups of yogurt CHEESE (about 2 cups of whey is drained off). One quart of yogurt will yield about 2-1/2 cups of THICK yogurt (about 1-1/4 cups of whey is drained off).

-Grainlady

Just wanted to give an update. I tried making my first batch of yogurt in the oven and it worked perfectly.

I heated 6 cups of milk (4 cups whole, 2 cups 1%) with a vanilla bean, strained it and let it cool, stirred in 4 1/2 Tablespoons of plain yogurt, and then put it in the oven on the bread proofing setting for 4 hours.

Even though it's already a nice consistency, I put it in the fridge to strain through a thin tea towel, just to see how much thicker it gets.

Thanks to everyone for your advice. It was so easy to do that it will become a regular thing on my weekly list.

susytwo, I'm glad it worked out well for you. I was astounded at how easy it is to make yogurt the first couple of times I did it.

Annie