Few issues can destroy a bagel lover’s morning greater than unwrapping a bagel and discovering a slab of cream cheese so thick, half of it squeezes out of the sandwich at first chew. Or, possibly worse, splitting the 2 halves to discover a paper-thin layer of schmear.

There’s a tremendous line between tangy, chewy perfection and a moist, gummy mouthfeel. So how a lot cream cheese is important for the best bagel expertise?

In our survey of 9 bagel outlets round america, execs are slathering on a median of 0.62 ounces of cream cheese per ounce of bagel. That’s roughly 6 tablespoons on an average-sized bagel served sandwich-style — a hefty serving to. However there are notable variations throughout bagel types and areas.

New York-style bagel outlets are inclined to observe a heavier ratio of cream cheese to bagel, at 0.67-to-1, slathering on about 4 ounces of schmear per bagel — that’s one-quarter of a pound. To Jesse Spellman, a accomplice at Utopia Bagels in Queens and Manhattan, that serving dimension makes for the right chew on a customary 6-ounce bagel; it’s a bit messy and enhances the feel of the chewy bagels, but it surely’s not too sloppy, he mentioned.

Fausto “Tito” Quizhpe, an Ess-a-Bagel retailer supervisor in New York Metropolis, backs up that stance when talking of the chain’s 6-ounce bagels. “If you put too much, the cream cheese is going to overflow the bagel,” he defined. “If you put too little, you don’t taste it.”

Throughout the nation and over within the Pacific, Honolulu-based Tali’s Bagels & Schmear stays true to its New York roots. “We’re advertising a New York product outside of New York, so we have to make sure that we live up to that standard,” mentioned co-founder Talia Bongolan-Schwartz, a New York native. “I always tell [our employees], I’d rather the customer come in next time and ask for light cream cheese than to think that we don’t respect the schmear. So we really lather up our bagels with schmear.”

The outcome: a sandwich that’s practically equal elements cream cheese and bagel. The thick unfold fills the cracks and air bubbles that develop from the dough’s lengthy proofing and fermentation course of and offers a satisfying distinction to the crisp exterior, Bongolan-Schwartz defined.

Outlets in Montreal, the opposite bagel capital of the world, present an analogous stability, however much less schmear general. St-Viateur Bagels, which has served conventional Montreal-style bagels since 1957, tops its just-over-3-ounce bagels with roughly 2.4 ounces of cream cheese, in keeping with co-owner Vince Morena. The bagels themselves are thinner and about half the scale of a New York-style bagel, he defined. They’re additionally crusty on the surface, chewy on the within, and never so dense, so that you don’t actually want schmear. The standard Montreal follow is to seize a bagel scorching from the oven and eat it with none toppings, he added. Cream cheese is a welcome accent, however not a necessity.

Elsewhere on the continent, bagel outlets observe comparable schmear-to-carb ratios. Boichik Bagels in California’s Bay Space slaps 3 ounces of cream cheese on its 4.4-ounce bagels, mentioned founder and CEO Emily Winston.

Bethesda Bagels stays near the common, too. The bagel store, with 5 areas within the Washington, D.C., space, takes its unfold amount severely. “We train our employees to [err] on the side of caution and always put a bit extra on there,” mentioned Vice President Noah Fleishman. “In fact, new employees do not move forward in the training process until they have mastered the art of schmearing cream cheese on a bagel correctly.”

It might seem to be all the professionals lean heavy-handed, however some bagel specialists are firmly positioned within the “light cream cheese” camp. Take, for instance, Jordan Renouf, the proprietor of Boston’s Brick Avenue Bagels. He believes many meals are designed to be autos for one more meals. Bagels, Renouf says, are not a car for cream cheese. The unfold merely helps to boost the gastronomic expertise, similar to the gravy on prime of mashed potatoes. His private ideally suited: a 0.4-to-1 cream cheese-to-bagel ratio, equating to 2 ounces of schmear on a 5-ounce bagel.

Identical to its northern neighbor, Black Seed Bagels in New York Metropolis retains cheese to a minimal on its New York-Montreal hybrid bagels.

“I like my cream cheese to complement my bagel, to support the bagel’s mission, and to complete my bagel experience,” co-founder Noah Bernamoff defined. “It’s not meant to be the star of the sandwich or its primary flavor or texture — like the bass guitarist in a band or a relief pitcher on a baseball team.”

To the native Canadian (who personally prefers a good lighter unfold), an excessive amount of cream cheese creates a “globby mouthfeel,” whereas too little runs the chance of melting on the warmed bagel, “creating an unwelcome wetness and a forlorn sense that the cream cheese has abandoned your bagel,” he mentioned.

At Milwaukee-based Ruby’s Bagels, proprietor Daniela Varela additionally follows a lighter ratio of 0.47-to-1, which she says is the candy spot for Midwesterners. The store’s bagels are mild and fluffy in comparison with the heavy New York-style choices, so any extra schmear would masks the flavour and texture, Varela mentioned. Like Renouf and Bernamoff, Varela sees cream cheese as a supporting character. “If the bagel is really good and they do skimp out on the cream cheese. I’m not too mad at it,” she mentioned. “If your bagel is — I’m not gonna say stale — but just, like, a harder chew, harder bite, I have to really pull, and then you skimped out on cream cheese. … This is not working out for me.”

The underside line: The professionals say 2 to 4 ounces of cream cheese is the very best serving to for bagels of any dimension. However with a lot polarity within the debate, it’s protected to say there’s no “wrong” quantity of cream cheese to slap in your bagel. Apply as a lot or as little as you please, even when others discover your serving dimension to be a dry shame or claggy mess. As long as it’s a stable bagel, it’s value taking a chew.