Okay, Let's Break It Down All-purpose flour is made with a mixture of hard and soft flour. Bread flour is made with hard wheat. It contains a high percentage of gluten producing protein, so it is ideal for the production of bread, hence the name.
Cake flour is formulated for cakes using soft wheat flour.
Because of its very low gluten content, it gives your cakes a soft crumbly texture. Pastry flour is perfect for pie dough. Also made with soft wheat, it is a bit stronger than cake flour, but not quite as glutinous as all-purpose. Self-rising flour is flour to which leavening has been added. Alternately, be sure to leave out the salt and leavening of a recipe, if you are using self-rising flour in place of regular flour.