flour questions

Bread flour is higher in protein than all-purpose flour. You can get larger, more irregular holes in your bread using bread flour than you can with all-purpose flour. Bread flour is "harder" though, so it does create a tougher loaf. So depending on what kind of bread you are making a particular type of flour may be more appropriate. I tend to use a 50/50 mix of bread flour/all-purpose flour when making French bread but all AP flour when making something softer, like a sandwich loaf.

As you gain experience, yes, you can tell the difference between different brands of flour. I find this to be particularly true when making lean breads that *only* contain flour, salt, yeast, and water or between different brands of whole wheat flour. If you are baking something like a buttermilk sandwich bread with honey in it, it is much more difficult to distinguish between the brands of flour.

I wouldn't worry too much about the brand of flour if you are just getting started. King Arthur's is always good, but a bit on the expensive side. I still use the store brand unbleached AP flour for the majority of my baking, supplementing it with some flour from King Arthur's or Bob's Red Mill as I see fit.

Hodgson Mill makes some excellent flours.  Cooks Illustrated magazine waxes almost poetic about the flavor of the breads that they make with Hodgson Mill flours.  My wife loves the rye bread that I make with it;  however, it's too soft or "cakie" for me.  I still eat and enjoy it, but I'd rather have a rye bread with some chewey bite and spring to it.  Hard wheat flour is what the commercial bakeries use for their breads for the most part.  There are exceptions of course.  The difficulty is finding it on your store shelves.  I finally found one 2 weeks ago, tried it, and tossed the bread and the flour out.  It was not good.  Now I've got a Nutrimill and 50# of hard wheat and rye grains ordered.  We'll see what happens.

The bottom line is that it's all personal taste.  Experiment with different flours and mixtures.  Then when you find something that you really like, stay with it.  The nice thing about baking bread is that the monetary costs are low.  Boo-boos can end up in the garbage quickly without any great loss - sort of an out-of-sight, out-of-mind thing, and move on to the next batch.  It does take some of your time, but that's part of the fun too.  Enjoy.

 Cliff. Johnston
"May the best you've ever seen,
 Be the worst you'll ever see;"
from A Scots Toast by Allan Ramsay

I have tried several varieties of AP and bread flour in my own novice baking program, and have settled on KA bread flour as my prohibitive favorite. As Floyd notes, bread flour gives you more gluten, which is great for airy/chewy artisan textures.

Personally, I love KA for the color. It has a beautiful creamy tone that I find utterly appetizing. Some people, on the other hand, prefer a pure white crumb. 

Cliff is absolutely right that ultimately it comes down to your personal tastes. But I'd say "what?!" to his advice about throwing out bread you don't like. 

I have discarded exactly one batch of bread in eight months of at least weekly -- and often imperfect -- baking. If I don't want it, I take it to the office or give it to the neighbors. Apparently everybody loves homemade bread, and they gobble up loaves that I find totally subpar. (For instance: I forgot to add salt to a large batch, thought it tasted awful. Took that to work. It didn't last till lunch.) I guess the audience is never as critical as the composer, eh? And if all else fails, there are always birds to feed!

http://www.baking911.com/pantry/flour,grains.htm