If you've ever wandered into a professional market and noticed the vast array of flours on the shelves, then there's no doubt you've pondered the specific uses of the most basic ingredient in practically all recipes. There's whole wheat verses white, course verses fine, gluten-free, nut-based flours, varying textures and qualities. Quite overwhelming, indeed for those just entering the baking world.

But to narrow it down to a simpler conundrum of bread flour verses all-purpose flour, there IS a difference and specific times for both. Bread flour is a high-gluten flour with added Vitamin C and barley that is especially useful in the baking of yeast recipes, for its gluten content aids in the correct rising of such products.

All-purpose flour, on the other hand, is a mix of different and varying gluten-level wheats and contains less protein.

It all depends on what you are baking to determine which flour is best suited for your needs. According to ochef.com (a great resource for baking questions), "You can always substitute all-purpose flour for bread flour, although your results may not be as glorious as you had hoped. Bread flour is called for in many bread and pizza crust recipes where you want the loftiness or chewiness that the extra gluten provides. It is especially useful as a component in rye, barley and other mixed-grain breads, where the added lift of the bread flour is necessary to boost the other grains. There are many recipes, however, where the use of bread flour in place of all-purpose will produce a tough, chewy, disappointing result. Cakes, for instance, are often made with all-purpose flour, but would not be nearly as good made with bread flour."

Hope this helps you!