A papermaking fabric includes a series of repeat units, each of the repeat units including: a set of top machine direction (MD) yarns; a set of top cross machine direction (CMD) yarns interwoven with the set of top MD yarns; a first set of bottom CMD yarns, the first set of bottom CMD yarns arranged in pairs; a second set of bottom CMD yarns, the second set of bottom CMD yarns arranged as single yarns; a set of bottom CMD yarns interwoven with the first and second set of bottom MD yarns; and a set of pairs of MD stitching yarns interwoven with the top and bottom CMD yarns, each pair of MD stitching yarns sandwiching a respective immediately adjacent bottom MD yarn of the second set. Each of the yarns of a pair of the first set of bottom MD yarns interweaves with the bottom CMD yarns in the same pattern.