Buttery, flaky crust:
2 ½ cups all-purpose, unbleached flour
½ tsp sea salt
2 cold sticks of butter
¼ cup ice cold water (nearly frozen)
In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in water, by sprinkling in a tablespoon at a time, until mixture forms a ball (may not need all of it). Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
Prepare the filling:
5-6 Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp allspice
Cut dough in half and roll one half out to 11 inches round to fit a 9 inch pie plate. Place crust in pie plate. Press the dough evenly into the bottom and sides of the pie plate.
Roll out the dough for the top crust to approx. 1/8 inch, cut slits in dough to make steam vents.
Fork holes in bottom crust, dot crust with butter, sprinkle with 1T flour, and fill with half of the apple filling. Dot apples with butter, sprinkle with 1T flour, and add remaining apples. Dot with butter and sprinkle 1T flour over apples, then place the top crust over filling.
Trim both top and bottom crust at the same time. Use kitchen shears to remove the excess dough that hangs over the lip of the pie plate, leaving a 1/2-inch border.
Tuck a 1/4-inch of the 1/2-inch border underneath itself, all the way around the pie, to form a thicker 1/4-inch border. Crimp the edges of the crust, creating a decorative pattern by pressing your thumb into the outside edge of the dough while pressing back gently with the thumb and forefinger of your other hand from inside the rim. Rotate the pie plate as you go until the pattern goes all the way around the pie.
Brush top with milk and sprinkle with coarse granulated sugar (like raw sugar)
Bake at 425 for 10 minutes, then 350 for an additional 30 minutes.