Для теста нужны мука, молоко и дрожжи, иначе корж не поднимется.

Because для requires the genitive case.

• тесто = dough / batter
• Genitive singular: теста

So:

• для теста = for the dough

This is a very common pattern in Russian:

• для супа = for the soup
• для чая = for tea
• для работы = for work

A useful thing to notice here: тесто means dough, not test. Even though they look similar in English, they are unrelated in meaning.

Нужны is the plural short form of нужный, meaning needed / necessary.

The sentence is structured like this:

• Для теста нужны мука, молоко и дрожжи.
• Literally: For the dough, flour, milk, and yeast are needed.

So Russian is not saying you need in the same way English does. It is saying that these ingredients are needed.

Because there is a list of things being needed:

• мука
• молоко
• дрожжи

the word нужны is plural.

Compare:

• Для теста нужна мука. = Flour is needed for the dough.
• Для теста нужно молоко. = Milk is needed for the dough.
• Для теста нужны дрожжи. = Yeast is needed for the dough.

With a combined list, plural нужны is natural.

Because in this sentence they are the things that are needed, so they function like the subject of the sentence.

Russian structure:

• Для теста нужны мука, молоко и дрожжи.
• Literally: For the dough, flour, milk, and yeast are needed.

So the ingredients are in the nominative case:

• мука
• молоко
• дрожжи

If you wanted a structure more like English we need X, then you could use a different sentence pattern, for example:

• Нам нужны мука, молоко и дрожжи. = We need flour, milk, and yeast.

Even there, the things needed still stay in the nominative, because the pattern is still literally to us, flour/milk/yeast are needed.

Because the sentence has a compound subject: a whole list of items.

Even though each item by itself is singular or uncountable, together they form a plural idea:

• мука
• молоко
• дрожжи

So Russian uses plural agreement:

• нужны

This is similar to English:

• Flour, milk, and yeast are needed.

not

• Flour, milk, and yeast is needed.

Дрожжи is one of those Russian nouns that is normally used only in the plural.

It means yeast.

So even when English treats yeast as a mass noun, Russian usually says:

• дрожжи — grammatically plural

That is why you get forms like:

• свежие дрожжи = fresh yeast
• эти дрожжи = this yeast / these yeast (depending on English phrasing)

This kind of noun is often called plural-only or pluralia tantum.

Иначе means otherwise.

So the sentence is:

• Для теста нужны мука, молоко и дрожжи, иначе корж не поднимется.
• Flour, milk, and yeast are needed for the dough, otherwise the cake layer/crust won’t rise.

The comma is there because иначе connects two clauses:

1. Для теста нужны мука, молоко и дрожжи
2. иначе корж не поднимется

Russian commonly uses a comma before иначе in this kind of structure, just as English often uses a comma before otherwise.

Because поднимется is the future form of the perfective verb подняться.

Here the meaning is about a result in the future:

• if you do not use those ingredients, the dough layer/cake layer will not rise

So Russian uses:

• не поднимется = will not rise

Compare:

• подниматься = to be rising / to rise repeatedly or in process
• подняться = to rise up, to go up, to rise successfully as a completed result

In cooking, perfective is very natural when talking about whether something does or does not rise successfully.

So:

• корж не поднимется = the layer/base won’t rise

is more natural here than an imperfective form.

Корж is not the whole cake. It usually means a cake layer, cake base, or sometimes a crust-like baked layer, depending on context.

In baking vocabulary, it often refers to the baked layer that later becomes part of a cake.

So in this sentence, корж не поднимется means something like:

• the cake layer/base won’t rise
• the crust/layer won’t puff up

The exact English translation depends on the recipe context.

Because Russian has no articles like English a/an/the.

So:

• мука can mean flour / the flour
• молоко can mean milk / the milk
• корж can mean a cake layer / the cake layer

The exact meaning is understood from context.

In this sentence, English might translate it with or without articles depending on style:

• Flour, milk, and yeast are needed for the dough
• For the dough, you need flour, milk, and yeast
• otherwise the cake layer won’t rise

Russian simply leaves articles out because the language does not have them.

The word order is natural, but Russian is more flexible than English.

This sentence starts with:

• Для теста = for the dough

That sets the context first, which is very common in Russian. Then it gives the main information:

• нужны мука, молоко и дрожжи

So the structure feels like:

• As for the dough, flour, milk, and yeast are needed.

You could rearrange parts of the sentence, but the emphasis would change. For example:

• Мука, молоко и дрожжи нужны для теста.

This is still grammatical, but it sounds a bit different in focus. The original version is very natural for instructions or recipes.